Accepting the Inevitable
by ChasingGhosts
Summary: “Gabriella, he cheated on you.” It was a simple as that. Her husband had cheated on her. And despite what her mother, and all her friends had told her to do, she still stood by him. Troy
1. Chapter I

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Disclaimer:

Yeah, I _wish_ I owned _High School Musical_. Seriously, the power to be able to get Troy&Gabriella do whatever I wanted in the second movie? How cool would that be!

**Author's Note**: My first multi chapter story! Actually, I had originally intended to just do multiple one-shots with the various scenes I intend to use throughout the story, but then it just made so much more sense to combine them into one bigger story, since after all, the stories were all somewhat based around one central idea.

But anyway, on with the story!

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"…Sweetie, why are you doing this to yourself?" Taylor's voice asked, soft and filled with worry, as it filtered through the phone that was currently attached to Gabriella's ear.

Gabriella stopped fidgeting with the necklace that hung around her neck and let out a deep sigh, closing her eyes. And there was that question again. That question she hated. Slipping her high heels off her feet, she brought her legs to her chair and towards her chest, one of her hands instinctively going to her face to cover her eyes, as if by doing so she could make everything go away, whilst the other hand held onto the phone. Bringing her head towards her knees, she let her brown locks cascade over her face, making the once brightly lit room, fall dark around her.

"Gabi? Gabriella? Hello, are you still there?" Taylor's voice came through the phone once again.

"Yeah, I'm still here," Gabriella mumbled back in response, her voice now sounding tired. "Taylor, why do you always ask me that? You know I hate it when you ask, and you always ask."

"Because I worry about you. Because I don't think it's right. And because I still don't understand why you're still with him!" Taylor let out in exasperation, her voice rising with each point she made.

"Tay, please," she begged, her voice sounding weak. "Not today. Please," she continued, her hand now rubbing all over her face, trying in desperation to make it all go away.

"Gabi, no, we're going to do this today," Taylor commanded. "Now please explain to me why you're still with that asshole." Gabriella didn't even bother trying to reprimand her for that comment, not having the energy to deal with this today.

"It's been four months, Gabi, and things aren't getting any better between the two of you," Taylor continued. "Why don't you just stop it now before things get any worse?"

"Taylor we've been through this a million times already," Gabriella tried again, not wanting to discuss the current topic anymore than they already had.

"Well then one more time won't hurt," Taylor replied quickly, not missing a beat. "Come on, Gabi, _why_?" They'd had this conversation so many times before, and yet, Taylor still couldn't figure out for the life of her why in the world Gabriella would do this to herself.

An audible sigh could be heard over the phone.

"Look Tay, I know what he did was wrong okay? There's no denying that," she began, "But we all make mistakes, and I know that what he did was a pretty big mistake, but how do I know if this mistake was big enough to throw away my marriage, huh Tay?" She prompted. A moment passed before Gabriella said anything, sighing again she continued, "Don't I at least owe it to my marriage to forgive him? Or to at least try?"

She lifted her head from its current position against her knees, and looked up towards the wall, where a picture of the two of them hung. The picture showed an extremely happy Gabriella hugging her husband from behind, her smile reaching up to her eyes that seemed to be twinkling. He, looking equally as happy, as he looked at her from the corner of his eye, his arms wrapping around her legs around his waist, as he pulled her up onto his back. Looking at the picture, and at the two happy people that gazed back at her, she mentally asked herself, _don't I at least owe it to them?_, hoping that by questioning the picture directly, the people within the photo would give her an answer; the right answer.

This time it was Taylor's turn to sigh. "Gabi, I don't know. Isn't four months of trying, enough?"

"Tay, this is my marriage I'm talking about! You can't just put a time frame on that type of thing! And I'll be damned if I just stand there and watch as it falls apart right before my very eyes, knowing that I didn't do a thing to prevent it from happening!" Gabriella replied, with her voice sounding strong, and very self assured, when in fact she was everything but.

On the other end of the phone a slightly shocked Taylor sat, stunned at Gabriella's sudden outburst, she was quiet for a moment, before adding quietly, "Gabriella, he cheated on you." It was a simple as that. Her husband had cheated on her. And despite what her mother, and all her friends had told her to do, she still stood by him. She had meant what she said when she stood before her friends and family on her wedding day, and she was going to try her hardest to stick by them. Even if he hadn't. She was not going to become another divorce statistic. She just wasn't. It had happened to her parents, and she was fairly adamant that it was not going to happen to her. At least not without a hell of a fight.

As soon as Taylor said those words, what little confidence she had just moments ago seemed to drain away, leaving only her aching heart, and a head full of painful memories. "I know, Tay, I know," her voice quiet again, as she began to relive all the pain she had already experienced. "But I need to keep trying okay? I need to be sure that this will all be worth it in the end. And all I'm asking from you is your support; can you at least give me that? Please?"

Taylor sighed once again and gave a small nod, as if Gabriella could see her response, "Alright, but only because I love you girl."

Gabriella breathed in, "Thank you."

There was a pregnant pause, neither girl speaking before Taylor blurted out, "But what about Troy?" Gabriella groaned. _Not this again._

"Taylor!" Gabriella yelled, clearly exasperated, "What did we just go over?"

"Yes, yes yes, whatever," Taylor replied dismissively, waving her hand about off-handedly. "But what about _Troy?_" she insisted again, "You cannot tell me that there's nothing going on between the two of you."

Gabriella rolled her eyes, "Tay, you've been going on about this ever since he started working here three months ago!" she replied, now removing her legs from the current position on her chair, to rest them on her footrest under the desk.

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_Gabriella was running late, really late. She hadn't gotten much sleep last night, or lately, as a result of Noah no longer sleeping beside her, but in the guest room instead. And because of all the cumulative lack of sleep, she'd slept through her alarm. Once again. With the amount of sleep she was losing, she was beginning to think the pain of sharing a bed with Noah again, might be all worth it, as long as she got a good night sleep._

_Gabriella ran through the front doors of the hospital, her heels clicking loudly as she did so, and her half brushed hair blowing slightly due to her speed. As she moved through the lobby, she received a few strange glances from the families and doctors that were congregated in the area, ignoring them she continued to run. Turning the corner, she could see the doors just beginning to close, "Wait! Hold the elevator!" she yelled out, in hopes that someone actually would. Someone's hand immediately shot out of the elevator, grabbing hold of the door; temporarily stopping it. Gabriella let out a relieved breath, thank God she thought, slowing down her pace._

_Coming to elevator door, Gabriella began to thank the person who held the door profusely, until she realized who exactly it was._

_Standing in the middle of the elevator entrance, Gabriella stood rooted to the spot in shock as Troy Bolton stood about a meter away from her, looking just as amazing as he had all those years ago, with his arm extended out, still holding the door open._

_Troy looked on in amusement at Gabriella's disheveled appearance and her look of utter shock that was written all over her face. "You can step into the elevator anytime now," he teased, effectively bringing her back down to reality._

_"Oh! Right, yes," she replied quickly stepping in, and pushing the button to her floor. Shaking her head, she turned towards Troy, a grin appearing on her face. "Troy Bolton! I can't believe it's you!" she said in astonishment, as she quickly leaned forward and gave him a quick hug, not questioning whether that might have been awkward or not._

_Their relationship had always been easy going, even after they'd mutually broken up during their freshman year at college. It wasn't a bad break up by any means, it just was. After going away to different colleges, their relationship seemed to struggle somewhat under the distance, and all the new activities and demands that college life had placed on them. And after a while, it just became evident that it wasn't going to work. They'd both agreed it would be best to break up now, before things got messy, and to remain friends. Which they had for a while, they'd talk to each other every few weeks, discussing everything from their classes to their latest date. But as time passed, they simply drifted away. _

_Troy hugged her back, now grinning as well. "Likewise," he chuckled, "After all these years, my first day at a new job, and I run into my old high school sweetheart. What are the odds?" _

_"My thoughts exactly," she responded, still reeling from actually seeing him again after so long she missed what he's just said. Gabriella did a double take, making sure she heard him correctly, "Wait; hold up, did you say first day on the job?" _

_"Yep. And I'm nervous as hell," he said, taking in a deep breath, and shoving his hands into his pants pockets in an attempt to hide his nervousness. "What happens if all the doctors think I'm too good looking to take me seriously?" he joked, shooting her one of his classic Troy Bolton grins._

_Gabriella laughed at him, rolling her eyes in the process, "Are you sure that's what you should be worrying about? You're not at all worried that they'll think you're too cocky?" she teased back. "I know this doctor does," she added, sticking her tongue out at him. _

_"Ah, Gabriella Montez a doctor, why am I not surprised? What field?" he enquired, "And is it still even Montez? Late twenties; I'd have thought you would have landed yourself a man already."_

_"Pediatrics actually. And it is still Montez," she noticed his eyebrows rise questioningly, before continuing, "But, I'm married." Silently adding, if you could still consider it still marriage._

_He looked down at her hand, "Married, and yet no wedding ring?" She pulled out the necklace that she hung around her neck, from the coat, revealing her wedding ring that hung from it. "Ah," he responded knowing, "I guess it makes sense, you never know what those little kids can be like."_

_She nodded back in response, "So anyway, what about you Mr. Bolton? What brings you to Mercy Hospital? Single? Married?"_

_"Actually, I'm a physical therapist now," this time it was Gabriella's turn to raise her eyebrows, "Yeah, I know," he laughed, "Not exactly what you were expecting huh?" Gabriella couldn't help but laugh with him. "At the end of sophomore year, I stuffed up my knee, putting an end to my basketball career. I was so angry at all the doctors not being able to help me, I decided that I'd become one and show them how it was done," he laughed again, "so here I am. And well as for relationships well I-"_

_A loud ding interrupted Troy, as the elevator came to a stop. "Oh! Sorry Troy, this is my stop," she glanced down at her watch, "Oh crap, I'm so late for this appointment. It was great to see you again Troy. Meet me today? We'll do lunch? Catch up?" she said hurriedly as Troy nodded back. "Great! I'm room 703, see you then!" she yelled as she ran out of the elevator and towards her office. _

_Troy watched in amusement as she left, thinking to himself, some things never change._

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Taylor scoffed, "Well how can I not go on about it? The guy is in love with you!"

Once again Gabriella rolled her eyes, "Taylor, you don't know that. And even if he did, it's not like the feelings are mutual, I'm trying to make things work with Noah. Now change of topic please."

Taylor pouted, "Fine, fine," she muttered in response. "So I called Maddie this morning. Why didn't you tell me she offered you a job?!" Taylor squealed in excitement.

Gabriella laughed at Taylor's sudden change in demeanor, "Well she only called me about it last night." There was a knock at her door, as Troy's face popped into the window, she waved him in. "I've hardly had time to think about it myself, let alone tell you."

Walking into Gabriella's office, Troy immediately made himself at home and went straight for the candy jar Gabriella had for the children, noting it was empty; he lifted the jar up for her to look at and shook it. Gabriella mouthed that she'd run out, causing Troy to roll his eyes at her and mutter "obviously" under his breath, which she still heard. She grinned back in response and held up her finger, indicating that she'd only be a minute, and went back to her conversation, as Troy plopped himself down on the couch in the corner and started throwing a stress ball up and down into the air.

"Well? Have you thought about it enough?" Taylor asked, half hoping that Gabriella would take the job and have to leave Noah in the process.

"I still have no idea. Maddie and I have been saying we'd open up our own practice together since college. After she decided to jet set around the world and put her medicine to better use, I figured she'd forgotten," Gabriella said with a shrug.

"Well she hasn't. Anyway, what's stopping you from still doing that? This is a great opportunity!"

"Well I'd have to move back to Albuquerque for one, and my whole life is here now, there's you and Troy." Upon hearing his name mentioned Troy looked towards her, causing him to miss the ball. Gabriella let out a little giggle as it landed on his head, and mouthed later, to him. "Plus, I haven't even spoken to Noah about it; he had that business trip and doesn't come back 'til today."

On the other end of the line Taylor rolled her eyes at the mention of his name, but took great delight that she had only mentioned him after Troy and herself. "At any rate," Gabriella went on, "I've got a week to decide and call Maddie back." At that moment Troy threw the stress ball at an unsuspecting Gabriella, making her emit a tiny squeal. She shot Troy a playful glare, as he whistled, trying to feign innocence.

"Okay what is going on over there? Is Troy there already?" Taylor asked, smirking knowingly, having heard the squeals.

Gabriella's answered, "Uh huh," distracted with trying to locate the ball under her desk, so she could throw it back at Troy. Finally finding it, Gabriella gave a triumphant, "Ah ha!" and threw the ball at Troy's face, giving him a satisfied grin in the process. "Anyway, we better get going to lunch before Troy decides to wage war on me."

"Yeah, I gotta go too anyway, I've got this new client that wants me to sue her plastic surgeon for a crappy boob job," Taylor rolled her eyes at the thought and sighed, "Remind me again why I became a lawyer in the first place?"

Gabriella laughed, "Because you wanted to get paid to argue with people all day," she replied simply.

"Ah, yes. I'll let you go, call you later on tonight."

"Okay, talk to you then. Bye Tay." Taylor also heard a distinct, "Bye Taylor" from Troy in the background as well. "Troy says bye as well," Gabriella added.

She gave a quick chuckle, "So I heard. Later girl."

"Finally!" Troy cried out dramatically, as Gabriella put the phone down; she simply rolled her eyes at him playfully.

"Did you really have to throw the ball at me?" she asked in mock anger as she made a move to grab her purse.

"Well if you had any candy in your jar to me preoccupied, then I wouldn't have had to," Troy countered.

"So this is my fault?" she said incredulously. "If _you_ hadn't finished off most of it yesterday, then you would have had some left for today," she retorted, "Do you have any idea how hard it was for me to get these two twins to let me do their check ups this morning without that candy?," she said pouting.

Troy laughed at her, "Aw, poor little Gabriella can't handle a pair of twins?" he teased back playfully, petting her head condescendingly. Gabriella stuck her tongue out at him as she opened for office door and let Troy out. "I'll buy you some _wonderful_ hospital food for lunch then in return."

"Oh goody! Just what I wanted!" She replied dryly, locking the door behind her. Troy simply laughed at her more.

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**Author's Note**: So, how was that? Anyone confused? LOL. I'm trying out different writing styles, so thought, rather than me having to explain what's going on, I figured I'd get the characters to do it for me. Like it? Oh, and what about the use of a flashback? I'm thinking I might use some more of them to fill in bits of what has already gone on, yes? No?

I bet you all thought she was married to Troy until half way through the chapter. Hehe.

Anyway, I'm not intending for this to be some really long story, five or so chapters tops. And because of that, the story might seem like its moving fast, but I wanted it to be a little snapshot greater story, so to speak. Plus, I'm used to only writing one shots, so I'm still testing out the waters of the multi chapter ocean.

So leave me a review, and tell me what you think, I'd love to hear your thoughts. And as always constructive criticism is loved!


	2. Chapter II

Disclaimer: Yeah, I still don't own it

**Disclaimer:** Yeah, I still don't own _High School Musical_. Call back in a few weeks and I'll let you know if anything has changed on that front.

**Author's Note**: Wow, lots of reviews! I've gotten more reviews for that first chapter, than I have for a couple of my one-shots! So thank you to all that left a review, especially those who reviewed one of my stories for the first time. And sorry for the long delay. Whenever I went to sit down and write, I kept getting ideas for future chapters, rather than this one. Hopefully that means that I won't take so long with these next chapters.

Hope you all enjoy the next chapter!

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Setting down his tray, Troy took a seat opposite Gabriella, who had already started eating her salad, and began to eat his own lunch. "Hm, so tell me, any interesting cases today?" Gabriella questioned.

Troy finished chewing what he had in his mouth before answering, "Not particularly, unless you count this one kid who came in with his leg all bent out of shape? Seriously, his leg was in a position, it should not be able to do," he replied, as if it was nothing.

Gabriella visibly cringed, "Ew. How you see that stuff every day and not be bothered by it is beyond me."

Troy laughed at her, "Hey, you're the one that asked. And may I remind you, that you're a doctor; you should be fine with all that nitty gritty stuff."

"Yeah, may be, but some of the stuff you see is just nasty," she shuddered at the thought of some of Troy's previous cases he had told her about.

Troy just grinned back in response, "Well then maybe you should stop asking about them everyday."

Gabriella scoffed at him, "Fine, I won't take an interest in my friend's life then," she shot back, taking one of his French fries and throwing it at him. Unfortunately for Gabriella, Troy caught the chip before it could hit him, and then proceeded to eat it.

"Ha, like you would ever be able to do that. It would kill you not to know how my date went last night," he added, knowing that she could never resist that. "And don't go wasting perfectly good crappy hospital food," he said playfully, whilst picking up a fry and waving it around in her general direction.

Gabriella's eyes lit up, having only just remembered that he'd had another date last night. "Oh! How'd it go?" she said excitedly, having already forgotten what he'd said only moments ago.

"See, told you," Troy replied smugly. This only led to Gabriella leaning across the table to hit him across the shoulder. "Ow! Was that really necessary? Violence is never the answer Dr Montez. You of all people should know that," he smirked at her.

She rolled her eyes at him. "Yeah, yeah. Just tell me how the date went!" she repeated again, with just as much excitement.

Troy couldn't help but laugh at her; she was just far too cute when she got all excited; the way her eyes lit up, smile shone broadly, and the how she gripped her hands together, in an attempt to hide her excitement from those looking on. "Well, you know, same old, same old," he said dismissively, and went back to eating his lunch, deciding it would be a bit of fun to tease her for a little bit.

"_Troy_," she said, drawing his name out so that it sounded slightly whiney, and pouted her lips hoping that it would dissolve his resistance.

Troy watched on as she expertly attempted to convince him to spill the goss. He sighed already knowing that she would end up winning this round much faster than he would have liked. Holding his ground, he tried to look anywhere else but at Gabriella and those lips of hers. "_Troy_," she repeated, this time silently pleading to him with her eyes, knowing that he would never be able to resist the look. He snuck a glance at her, and all determination he had to beat her disappeared.

"Fine!" he pouted giving into those eyes.

Gabriella gave a triumphant, "Yay!"

"You're evil, you know that? You and those eyes of yours," he said grudgingly, a pout still evident on his face.

"Oh you love me," she smirked at him, grinning widely, "Now tell me, how was your date!"

"Same old, same old," he repeated again.

Gabriella looked at him, suddenly all the excitement she had felt before was gone, "Seriously?" He gave a small shrug. "Troy!"

"Gabriella!" he said in the same tone, playfully mocking her.

She ignored him and continued on, "That was the third date! What was wrong with this one? Too blonde? Talked too much? No manners? Didn't have a sense of humor?" Gabriella said, holding up her hand, whilst she listed off all the reasons why he had dumped most of his previous dates on her fingers. She sighed, "It cannot be this hard for you to find a great girl! You're hot, smart, funny, successful; women should be throwing themselves at you!"

"Aw, you think I'm hot," he cooed at her. She simply shot him a look that said that she was not impressed; he put his hands up defensively. "Don't look at me. It's not as if I'm not trying. You've set me up on a ton of dates since I moved out here. And I've gone along to every single one of them. It's not my fault you've got bad match making skills."

"I do not have bad match making skills," she said defiantly, pointing at him, "You're just too damn picky."

"I'm not picky… selective." Gabriella looked at him pointedly. "They're just not what I'm looking for. And there's no use stringing on these women when I know I'm not interested."

She sighed giving up, knowing he was right, "You know you really had me going this time; I really thought you might have hit it off," she pouted, "Way to get me all excited for nothing Bolton."

He laughed at her, "Aw, better luck next time," he said, winking at her.

"You just need someone that's all."

"Pssh, I do not need anyone."

"Oh yes you do. Everyone needs someone," she said simply. _Even if things with that person are going to hell_, she mentally added, as the conversation she had with Taylor earlier came rushing back into her mind. Sighing, she turned back to her salad, but found herself not feeling particularly hungry anymore, and ended up just pushing pieces of lettuce around with her fork.

Looking up from his own lunch, Troy noticed her sudden change in demeanor. "Hey, come on, I bought you lunch, the least you could do is eat it," he joked good naturedly. Gabriella gave him a weak smile in return. "What's up? You've gotten quiet all of a sudden," he prompted.

Gabriella sighed and stole a few of his French fries, "Oh that would be right," he said playfully rolling his eyes at her. "I buy you lunch and you eat mine instead. I should have known," he smirked at her.

She giggled slightly, and stole some more fries, "It's just Taylor."

He nodding knowingly, "Ah," already understanding where this was going, "She up to her old tricks again?"

"You got it," she replied, letting out a sigh. "I just wish she would quit already," she added, her shoulders slumping, as she slid down into her chair.

Troy looked at Gabriella once again, his heart slowly breaking at the sight of the beautiful woman that sat before him, sadness clearly etched on the features of her face. For the millionth time in the last three months we wished once again that he could be the one to cheer her up, and take away all her pain. Realistically, he knew that as one of her best friends he had the power to do that, but he wanted more; _needed_ to be more to her than just a friend.

Some of his male colleagues had mentioned to him on countless occasions that now would be the perfect chance to make his move. To be her knight in shiny armor; and rescue her from the evil clutches of her broken marriage. But Troy being Troy, knew that he could never do that to her. He could never knowingly turn her against Noah, so that she would fall for him instead. If they were ever going to be together again, she needed to figure it out on her own. She was the one who needed to make the decision of whether they were better off as friends or if they were something more. And even if it pained him to watch on as Gabriella continued to pursue a marriage that clearly was not meant to be, he would still be the ever loyal friend always there to give her comfort, in whatever form she needed.

Slowly he moved his hand across the table, so that it covered hers, and gently moved his thumb in a comforting motion across the knuckles of her hand. "She's just worried about you, that's all," he said softly.

"Yeah, I know," she replied, her voice just as soft, "I just wish she knew when to stop," she sighed once again, not noticing his hand on hers.

Not too sure on what to say next, he continued the movements on his hand, leaving her to her thoughts. "It'll be okay. It'll all work out in the end, you know that right?" he paused, "It may not seem like it now, but it will," he said to her softly, in hopes that it would keep her mind at ease for the time being. She gave him a small smile, nodding, believing in what he had said. Casting her eyes down, she noticed for the first time where his hand was, and stared intently at it. Troy followed her gaze to their hands, then gingerly removed his hand from hers, and clapped his hands together, trying to change the mood.

"Now what was it that you were going to tell me whilst you were on the phone to Taylor?" he said quickly, a grin on his face, trying to bypass any awkwardness that might have occurred.

Gabriella, picking up on this, went along with him, "Oh right! You know my old college roommate? Maddie?" She received nothing but a blank look in return, "You know… the one you said was too perky for her own good?"

A light bulb went off in Troy's head, "Her! Wow, you're still friends with her? Did she end up as a doctor too?"

She nodded, "Yep, and she asked me if we finally wanted to open our own practice together last night."

He grinned broadly at her, "That's great! I'm really happy for you Gabi."

"Thanks," she gave him a genuine smile, "But I haven't decided if I want to take it yet."

"Well why not? This could be a great move for you! Your own practice!" he said excited for her, "Think about it! No more white walls, or that horrible stench, you could make your own hours. And lets not forget, an end to this horrible concoction they call food," he said indicating to the remains of their lunch. "And the best bit? You wouldn't have to complain about me stealing all your candy!"

She laughed at him. "Well now that you mention the candy, maybe I should go ring Maddie now and tell her the great news," she replied grinning, the sadness on her face no longer apparent. "Thanks Troy," she added after a moment.

"Anytime Montez. Anytime," he replied winking at her.

...

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...

Opening the front door, Gabriella walked into the hallway, noticing the wonderful aroma that was wafting throughout the house from the kitchen. Placing her keys in the dish by the door, and putting down her bag, she walked towards the kitchen, to find Noah humming away as he prepared the dinner.

Leaning against the kitchen door, Gabriella took a moment just to watch him, as he smoothly moved about the kitchen. Noah was a natural in the kitchen; he could prepare the most difficult dishes effortlessly. He had once told Gabriella, that if he hadn't followed in the footsteps of his father, and every Reed male before him, and become a lawyer, he would have been a chief. The fact that he could cook, and so wonderfully was one of his talents that she had once found so attractive.

She continued to watch on noticing at how normal this felt. Before things all went to hell, whenever Noah would come home from a business trip, she'd always come home to him cooking her a fabulous dinner for her return. She sighed as she reminisced at what they once had, before walking into the kitchen. "Welcome back," she said, her voice not expressing much excitement.

"Hey!" he replied back excitedly, obviously having missed her lack of excitement, and leaned towards her to give her a kiss on the lips as she walked passed.

She slowed down her pace as she noticed him leaning in, and paused for a quick moment, before giving him her cheek, rather than her lips, then quickly moved towards the stove to see what he was cooking, before he could get another try. If Noah had noticed, he didn't let on that he did, and continued to prepare dinner. "Mmm, smells good," she said as she looked into the pot, "What is it?"

"It's a surprise," he said grinning as he shooed her out of the kitchen, "but I assure you, it's one that you'll like. So if you just go upstairs and change into something comfy, dinner will be ready in about ten." She looked at him quizzically, but brushed it aside, and went upstairs anyway.

She came down minutes later, in a pair of tracksuit pants and a random tee, to find Noah placing the plates on the table. "Just in time!" She stood before the table, realizing how much effort Noah had really put into this. "Recognize it?" he questioned, she nodded back faintly, he grinned, "I had hoped you would. Now dig in!"

She took a seat, "I can't believe you remembered."

He chuckled, "How could I forget? This was the first thing I ever cooked for you. I was so nervous."

She gave a small smile before taking a bite, "So how was your trip?"

"Really great actually, we won the case," he grinned happily, "The defense didn't stand a chance. I mean, it looked like they weren't even trying, they must have realized how much of a loss cause it was," he continued, not noticing how quiet Gabriella had been. "So how was your last few days?"

"Yeah, alright, nothing exciting really," she said, continuing to eat.

The two continued to eat in silence for a while, until Noah spoke up, "Oh! I forgot, when I did a quick pop in at the office, I ran into Taylor, she said that she might not be able to call tonight, something about a boob job, but said for you to think about what you talked about?" he said, slightly confused. "Taylor's getting a boob job?"

Gabriella let out a quick giggle at the thought of Taylor getting a boob job, "No, just a new case she's working on. But um, now that you mention it, something interesting did happen yesterday." Noah stopped eating, and turned to her, "You know my friend Maddie?" he nodded, "Well she asked me if I wanted to open a new practice with her."

"Gabi! That's great news!" he said, getting up from his seat, and giving her a hug. Gabriella became rigid as his arms went around her body, but awkwardly returned the hug nonetheless, quickly pulling back.

"Yeah, it is," she said softly as Noah returned to his seat, "Only thing the practice would be in Albuquerque," she added.

Noah's excitement seemed to drain away, "Oh. Right." There was an awkward pause, both trying to mentally calculate what this would mean for them. "So, have you decided on anything?" Noah spoke up.

"Well not really. I was talking about it with Troy and Taylor before; they both think it would be a really great opportunity. But that's about it," she said, going back to eating her meal, not noticing as Noah's fist began to clench a little.

"Oh, so you've already talked about this with Troy and Taylor huh?" he said, trying his best to keep his voice calm and cheerful.

"Well yeah, why wouldn't I have? They are my best friends," she responded, not really understanding where he was going with this.

"When did this all happen?" he asked, his voice remaining calm.

"Um, Maddie called last night, and I spoke to Troy and Taylor about it this morning," she shrugged, passing it off as if it were nothing, and continued to eat.

Something inside of Noah snapped, "And you couldn't ring me because?" he said, his voice rose, not being able to keep his cool any longer. He waited for her to answer, and when she didn't he continued on, "Gabriella, remember me? You're _husband_ remember?" he said, yelling now as he stood up at the table. "Last I heard, husbands and wives share things like this with each other, or have things changed since then?"

Gabriella put her fork down and just looked at him, her face remaining expressionless, "You know what? I'm not feeling hungry anymore; I think I might just make it a night." And with that she got up from her seat and walked upstairs, leaving a riled up Noah standing alone.

...

...

...

Gabriella lay silently in their bed, her mind reeling. It really hadn't even occurred to her that she should call him before talking about it with Taylor and Troy; didn't even cross her mind. She sighed, knowing that Noah was right. If the opportunity had come up a few months ago, Noah would have been the first person she called, yet this time she hadn't even bothered to tell him until Taylor indirectly forced her to.

The bedroom door opened, and Noah wordlessly came in, walking around to his side of the bed he sat down and faced her back. "Look, Gabi, I'm sorry," he said quietly, hoping that she was listening to him. "I don't know what happened down there, I just snapped, and I shouldn't have." Gabriella remained still. So he continued, "I know things haven't been okay between us lately, but I want you to know that I'm trying okay? I'm really trying to make an effort." Still, Gabriella gave him no indication that she was listening. Sighing, he began to get up, when she finally spoke.

"I know," she said quietly, before slowly turning towards him, his green eyes came into contact with her brown ones and she gave him a weak smile, which he gladly returned. They sat there for a moment before Noah slowly leaned towards her, moving his hand to gently caress her cheek. This time Gabriella didn't turn her head, or move away as he came into contact with her, and just let him stroke her cheek. Gradually he moved to kiss her on the lips. When there was only a small gap between them, he paused, and looked into her eyes, before closing the gap. The kiss only lasted for a short moment before Gabriella pulled away, quietly whispered, "Good night," before turning around and settling back into her pillow.

Noah gave a sad smile, whispered back "Good night" and then walked out of the room to clean the mess downstairs.

Once he was gone, Gabriella breathed out a deep sigh. It wasn't that she wanted her marriage to fail. She really didn't. It was just... hard. It had been four months, four painful months, and every time they had begun to get even remotely intimate with each other, she'd get these flashes. Flashes of the pain she had felt when she found out. Images of his hands touching another woman, in places where he only he had touched her in over the last four years.

Sometimes she could almost imagine the sound of another woman crying out her husbands name in those moments of ecstasy. And that's what had always stopped her. The knowledge that during their marriage, she wasn't the only woman he had made feel that way. The very thought of it still sickened her.

...

...

...

_Gabriella sat in the living room, moving about excitedly, wearing a slightly revealing, yet tasteful dress, in hopes that she could surprise Noah when he came home. She walked around the room, candles flickering slightly as the air around them stirred; she stopped at the fireplace, gazing in happiness of a photo of the two. The turning of a key behind her, alerted her to Noah's presence as she quickly ran to the door._

_Before he could even put his suitcase down, Gabriella's lips were on his, passionately kissing him. He kissed back, letting himself enjoy the feeling of her body and lips pressed against his own, knowing that it wouldn't last too long. When they pulled away, Gabriella let out a happy sigh, before mumbling, "Hey you," against his lips. "I missed you. Two weeks is far too long." She leaned into his lips again, but noticing Noah wasn't responding, pulled back. "What's wrong?" she said, looking into his eyes._

_He sighed and avoided her gaze, "There's something I've got to tell you," he said slowly. _

"_Okay, but can it wait? I've got a little bit of a surprise for you," she replied seductively, her eyes twinkling._

_He pulled from her grasp, knowing that if he didn't, he might not be able to say what he needed to. "Actually, it really can't," he said walking into the living room, "You may want to sit down for this one."_

"_Okay…" she said following him into the room and sitting in a nearby chair, clearly confused by his actions._

_He sat down on the coffee table opposite her, leaned towards her and took his hands into hers, sighing. He took a deep breath, and looked into her eyes. "Whilst I was away… something happened," he said slowly, watching for her reaction._

_Her eyes flashed with worry, "Oh God, no one's hurt are they?"_

_Continuing to hold her hands he went on, "Um, no, but," he paused and took in a deep breath, "Something did happen between Theresa and I." As soon as the words came out of his mouth, Gabriella froze, feeling as if she had just gotten stabbed in the chest with a scalpel. She remained still, sitting motionless as her world came crashing down around her._

_The sound of Noah's voice brought her back down to reality, "Gabi, I want you to know, that it was a huge mistake, and I regret every minute of it," he said sincerely, his thumbs rubbing hers, as he held her hands._

_Ripping her hands out of his, she stood up and walked to the other side of the room turning away from him. "Gabi, I'm sorry, God, so sorry!" Noah cried out, "I don't know how it happened, one minute we were celebrating our case and the next…" he voice died down, unable to speak the words. "Gabi, speak to me. Say something," he said quietly, as he walked towards her, reaching out for her hand._

"_Don't!" she said firmly, her voice concealing her pain, as she twirling around to face him. Her eyes were no longer twinkling, but filled with tears, which she refused to let fall. "How could you?" she said in distress, her voice trembling, as she looked into his eyes. "How could you," she repeated again._

_Noah saw the pain in her eyes, hating that he had been the one to cause it. "I don't know," he said regretfully, hanging his head. "It was a huge mistake!"_

"_Yes it was," she said sorrowfully, as she walked past him, not looking in his direction and over to the front door, and opened it, wordlessly asking him to leave. _

_Noah sighed, slowly walking to the door. He paused just as he was about to walk out, trying with no avail to catch her gaze, dejectedly, he whispered, "I'm sorry," before she closed the door on him._

_She closed her eyes; as a single tear fell from her eyes on onto her cheek. With all her energy suddenly drained, she leaned again the door, slowly sliding down towards the floor as she finally let it all out, her shoulders racking as she silently sobbed to herself._

...

...

...

Every time he came home from one of his business trips she would always wonder if it had happened again.

She wanted to trust him. She really did. But it wasn't just as simple as saying, "I trust you." Her head was telling her one thing; that she had invested four long years into this relationship, this marriage, and it would be stupid of her to let it just fall apart now. But, at the same time, her heart was telling her that it was just too soon. That she was still broken from the initial blow, and that it needed more time to heal itself.

When all her thoughts became too much for her, she willed herself to sleep, knowing tomorrow would be a hell of a day.

* * *

**Author's Note**: And there's another chapter, a _long_ chapter. So there was more insight into her relationships with Troy and Noah. Hopefully the difference between the two was obvious.

What did you guys think? Now just click on that little button in the left hand corner, and let me know! C_onstructive_ criticism is loved!


	3. Chapter III

Disclaimer: Sadly nothing has changed on owning HSM yet

**Disclaimer: **Sadly nothing has changed on owning HSM yet. Do you think Kenny and Disney Inc. can be bribed?

**Author's Note**: First off, _so_ sorry for the huge wait. I hate it when authors take really long to update, and I started getting frustrated with myself for making you wait that long. Real life has just been completely hectic for me lately and I'm struggling to make time to sleep, let alone everything else.

Secondly, I don't know if any of you guys have picked up on this, but this story has had a lot more conversation than in my other fics? At first it was one of my intentions to work more on the conversation, since that is what I find most difficult about writing, but in the process I've somehow lost all the feelings/thoughts/descriptive bits I usually have. So that's also part of the reason why it took so long, I've been trying to get that back a little bit, and it proved to be more difficult that I thought.

Finally, thank you all for the _awesome_ reviews. Truthfully, I can't see whatever awesomeness you see in my writing, but hey, I'll go with it. Hehe. You guys rock!

Anyway.. back to the story. LOL. Hopefully it goes well…

* * *

".. Okay, remember if it gets any worse, come back and see me," she said kindly as she led a mother and her son out of her office and into the hallway. Turning around she closed her door, walked back to her chair, and plopped down, leaning the back of her head against her chair as she let out a deep sigh. Gazing around her office, her eyes caught a glimpse of a picture of Noah and herself, as she wondered what had become of those two deliriously happy people from the photo.

Once again the events of last night came tumbling back into her mind. Gabriella didn't know what was going on with herself anymore; the night had started out so well. He had cooked for her. Something he hadn't done in months, and add to that, cooking one of the first meals they had shared together, surely that should have counted for something? And even though he had done that, even before the practice in Albuquerque had even been mentioned, she knew she had been resistant. He had been sweet and perfect, and at the time, she couldn't bring herself to be happy about his obvious attempts. He was trying, _really_ trying, she knew that, but deep inside she couldn't help but feel somewhat uneasy of his actions. Of course he had been trying, but not once in the last four months had he ever cooked for her, what made this trip any different? This triggered off thoughts of suspicion, which only served to make her feel even worse. She shouldn't be questioning her husband's actions, particularly if she had no grounds to do so; he was being nice, yeah, nice, that was it.

She was content with those final thoughts for a moment, until a tiny sliver of doubt crept back into her mind. What if something had happened on the trip? He did seem awfully happy… No, he'd just won his case; of course he'd be happy… Right… But he cooked for me; he hasn't done that since before it all happened. What if this is his way to throw me off his track? … No, he wouldn't. Not again. No… Just no. End of discussion.

She shook her head, and tried to push all thoughts about last night and Noah out of her mind. It was this sort of thinking last night that had lead to her being completely exhausted today. She had spent hours trying to fall asleep once Noah had left the room the night before. Her mind too busy overanalyzing every single little detail of their life together, to let her fall asleep. And when she finally had fallen asleep, Noah had accidentally woken her up whilst trying to get to bed, which only made it even harder for her to fall back asleep, knowing he was right there beside her. Normally, Noah sleeping beside her didn't affect her so much, but, every now and then, when she was having a day like yesterday; when Taylor or any of her other friends would bring up her situation with Noah and all her pain came to the surface, having to sleep a few inches away from him, really wasn't what she needed.

Closing her eyes, she tried to savor the silence as she attempted to get a little shut eye before lunch.

Unfortunately for her the silence didn't last too long as Troy came bounding into her office, whistling to some unknown tune as he went over to her now full candy jar. She groaned at the disturbance, knowing that it was Troy, coming in early, before she even opened her eyes. Not even bothering to greet him, she repositioned herself so that her head was now resting in her arms, as she leant against her desk.

"Ooh, someone's not in a good mood," Troy said, his voice sounding far too cheerful for her liking, as he helped himself to her candy jar.

Knowing her current appearance spoke for itself, she remained silent, still desperately trying to get some much needed rest, as she distantly heard Troy move towards her couch, presumably with the candy jar still in his hands, before falling into a peaceful slumber.

Troy sat comfortably in the corner, a small smile playing on his face as he watched Gabriella doze off, taking note of how childlike and adorable she looked. Not having the heart to wake her, he picked up a magazine and quietly flicked through it, and began to snack on a few pieces of the green gummi bears she had specifically added in the jar just for him, whilst he waited.

Two magazines, countless green gummi bears, and half an hour later, Troy was completely bored. There was only so long a guy could read about Britney Spears' latest mental breakdown, without possibly having a mental breakdown of his own. Looking down at his watch, he realized it was definitely time for some real food. Taking a glance over at Gabriella, a broad grin came over his face, and the only word that came to mind to describe her, would have been "Aw." Knowing that if he didn't get some real food in his stomach now it was very possible his stomach would start to eat itself, and that Gabriella really needed some rest, he decided it might be best to head down and grab some food for them before attempting to wake her up.

...

...

...

Placing the food down on the small coffee table in the corner, Troy quietly crept around Gabriella's desk. "Gabi?" he said in a sing song voice, and waited for a response, "Gabriella," still no response. "Gabriella, come on, it's food time," again nothing. "Gabi," he tired again, only this time poked her gently in the cheek. Gabriella stirred slightly, and mumbled something incoherent before drifting back off to sleep. Troy had to bite the inside of his mouth to stop from laughing. She was just far too cute. Knowing it would take forever if he proceeded to wake her this way, he took drastic measure. Carefully, he maneuvered around her chair so that he could place both hands on either side of her waist, and then quickly poked her in the side.

A loud shriek could be heard as Gabriella instantly sat up, now completely awake, as she rubbed her hands over her sides. Looking around her room she turned around to find Troy hunched over by the window laughing in utter amusement. She pouted and glared at him before huffing and sitting back down at her desk and closing her eyes again.

Once his laughter had died down, Troy spoke, his voice giving away his amusement, "Aw, Gabi, come on! Up up! It's food time!" she grumbled back something that sounded like she wanted to stuff him with gummi bears, which only caused Troy to laugh again. "Seriously, it's _actua_l food, instead of that stuff we usually eat. I went to that place down the street you love so much and got you some, but hey, if you don't want to eat it, I'll be more than happy to," he said with a smile on his face, knowing that she would definitely get up now.

Slowly she lifted her head, and looked up at him skeptically, "That little place with the cute display in the window?" she asked as she watched him walk around the room.

"Yup," he said simply, "I even got you your favorite," he added as he lifted up the bag and dangled it around temptingly.

Suddenly now full of energy she sprung up and bounded over to him, grinning widely at him, "You're the best friend ever," she said giving him a quick hug around his waist and making a grab for the bag, only to have him pull it out of her reach at the last second.

"Uh uh uh, not so fast," he said, holding out his hand to stop her. She pouted. "One condition," he paused, watching as her eyebrow rose, "You have to tell me what happened last night with Noah."

"How'd you know something happen?" she said as she sat down on her couch crossing her legs, like a child would, signaling to him that she'd accept his condition.

Sitting down as well, he began to unpack the contents of the bag. "Well besides the fact that you just told me?" he said grinning at her cheekily. "No, really, I'm one of your best friend's; it's my job to know these things," he said watching Gabriella already digging into her lunch. "That and you only ever sleep in your office when you've had a really bad night, and a lot of your really bad nights tend to revolve around Noah," he added, before looking down at his own lunch to avoid her gaze, and shrugged as if knowing that detail about her behavior was common sense.

She looked up from her lunch and smiled at him, somewhat amused at the fact she he had taken note of her sleeping tendencies. She relished in the fact that she hadn't needed to tell him that something was wrong, he just knew. Of course she shouldn't have been at all surprised. Troy had always been able to read her like a book, and she loved the fact that he could.

She took another bite out of her sandwich, "Mmmm, damn this stuff tastes so good," she said, savoring the taste in her mouth.

He nodded, and took a few bites of his own lunch, he waiting until Gabriella was ready to explain. After a while of only being able to hear the quiet chewing from both of them as they devoured their lunches, Troy spoke up, "So?" he questioned.

Gabriella put down what was left of her lunch, closed her eyes and let out a lengthy breath. "That bad?" She nodded. "I take it he didn't think too highly of the practice being in Albuquerque?"

"Well," she began, "the fact that the practice was in Albuquerque wasn't really what we _discussed_." Troy raised an eyebrow at her in confusion, and silently urged her to continue. "We didn't actually talk about that much… more so who I had told about it first, or rather… not first."

"Ah," Troy said now understanding, "So the bad night was because he blew up over the fact that you didn't tell him first, and told Taylor and I before him?"

She nodded. "He literally just snapped. We're sitting down having dinner that he cooked for us, I tell him about the job and he was really happy for me. It got a little awkward once I mentioned that it would be in Albuquerque, then once I mentioned that I'd already spoken to you and Tay about it, he just blew up!" she said. "I just went up to bed straight after that. Then later, he comes up and he's apologizing to me about it all." Closing her eyes, she brought one hand up to her eyes, closed them and started to slowly massage her temples.

"I have no idea what is going on anymore," she said in a slow, low voice. "Every time I think I'm actually moving towards getting past it all, something happens that sends me spiraling back down to the starting box, and then I get all these thoughts that I want so desperately to shake, but they just keep coming back."

Troy leaned over and placed a comforting hand on her knee, not knowing what to say. He hated this. This was the part where he sucked it up and put all his feelings for her aside, and tried to act like he was just a friend. Every time it got harder and harder to do, because the longer she went on with this, the more he pained for her and desperately wanted to tell her that she didn't need all of this. That she didn't need Noah. That she was better than this. But he stopped himself from doing so every time; she didn't need another person telling her what to do at this point. She just needed someone to be there.

"Gabi, come here," he said comfortingly, as he opened his arms out to her. Opening her eyes she looked up, and moved over towards him, and eased herself into his open arms.

He shifted slightly, rearranging himself so that Gabriella would be more comfortable in his arms, so much so that she was practically sitting on his lap, but Gabriella either notice or wasn't bothered by it, so he didn't mention it either. Slowly he rubbed soothing circles on her upper back, attempting to convey to her that he was there. They stayed like that for a while; Gabriella's head resting on Troy's shoulder, her eyes closed as she let Troy's strong arms encircle her, as he continued to rub her back.

"You know," he said quietly, hoping that she hadn't fallen asleep on him, "we should go out tomorrow night, you, me, Taylor. We'll have dinner, go to that nightclub Taylor likes so much, I'll let you pick out a girl or two for me and Taylor can mock them." She giggled softly. "Just have a night off to forget everything and have some fun. What do you say?"

"Sounds great."

...

...

...

Loud music thumped, and people around them danced as Troy and Gabriella sat at one of the quieter tables around the club. "Ooh, okay, what about that girl over in the left corner? With the long blonde hair and the green top?" she asked as she continued to scan the loud club for more potential dates for Troy.

He glanced over his shoulder and searched for the blonde. "Which one? The only one I can see matching that description would be the one now against the wall making out with that guy."

She turned around and took another look, scrunching up her nose at what she saw, "Oh ew, I did not need to see that. Sorry, she wasn't doing that a moment ago."

"Well she sure works fast," he said chuckling, as Gabriella started to giggle. "Actually, on second thought, maybe I should go over there anyway, she seems like she'd be a bit of fun," he said in mock seriousness as he started to stand up.

Gabriella grabbed his arm before he could go any further and pulled him back down, "Oh no you don't. We're looking for someone for you to _date_; random hook ups don't really fit the job requirements."

He pouted playfully, "You always ruin my fun." She simply laughed at him and sipped her drink. "When did Taylor say she'd be here? She already missed dinner. How much longer could it possibly take?" he questioned, looking down at his watch.

"Hm, she should have been here by now," she said glancing around the room in hopes that Taylor was already here, dancing with some guy and they just hadn't seen her yet. "Nope, I don't think she's here yet, maybe we sho-" she was interrupted by the sound of her phone vibrating on the table, she looked down at the screen, "And what do you know?" she said flashing Troy a smile and showed him her phone before she answered it.

"Taylor! Are you still at work?" she yelled into her phone, trying to block out the music around her by holding her hand to her ear.

"Yeah, I am, sorry. But Gabi I've got to tell you something," Taylor said over the phone, her voice filled with regret.

Gabriella couldn't hear a word of what Taylor said over the music around her, "What was that Tay? I can't hear you?" she yelled back again.

On the other end of the phone, Taylor sighed as she sat in her office, taking a quick glance at her closed door. "I said I've got something to tell you!" she yelled back.

"Okay, still can't hear you, hold on," Gabriella said, then covered her phone and spoke to Troy, "I can't hear a word she's saying, I'm going to see if I can't hear her better over there," she said as she indicated to the corner by the pay phone. Troy nodded, and watched as she walked over there. "Ah, okay, let's try this again. Where are you Tay? Troy and I have been waiting for ages! You missed out on seeing Troy get hit on by a guy," she said laughing.

"Oh, really? Damn, I would have loved to see that," Taylor said laughing, but then stopped abruptly when she remembered the reason for her call. "Gabs, I've got to tell you something," she said seriously.

"You're not going to be making it tonight, are you?" she questioned, "Taylor you work far too hard! You need a break. Seriously, you work more than I do!"

"No, it's not that. I, er, saw something whilst walking through the office on my way out tonight," Taylor said, her voice sounding hesitant. She was not expecting for this phone call to go well, and the fact that Gabriella seemed to be in a happy mood wasn't helping at all. _This _was going to hurt.

"Okay, what?" Gabriella asked cluelessly, "Was your secretary trying to seduce one of the partners again?" she joked.

Taylor closed her eyes and took a deep breath in, "It was Noah," she said simply, hoping that Gabriella might notice the tone in her voice.

On the other end of the line, Gabriella paled and the smile that was radiating from her face slowly started disappearing with every passing second. Her mind was racing as the doubt from the past few days began to creep back into her mind. There were so many different ways that she could have interpreted what Taylor had just said, and for the moment she was forcing herself not to jump to any conclusions, at least not yet. "Well of course you'd see him there Taylor. He does work there," she joked uneasily, hoping the background noise from the nightclub would drown out her slight cracking of her voice and that Taylor wouldn't hear it.

But Taylor did hear the change in her voice. She hated to be the one to say this to her, but Gabriella needed to know. "Gabi," she said her voice full of sorrow. She paused, wracking her brain for words that could possibly make saying this hurt a little less.

She needed to know. She needed to put an end to all these doubts once and for all. "Just say it Taylor. Tell me," Gabriella said firmly, hoping that this time her voice would not betray her.

Taylor sighed. "I was getting all packed up and ready to go and I figured I was the last one there, so I went and did a quick sweep of the floor. When I got to Noah's office, I saw that the light was still on, and I thought I'd pop in and ask him to lock up when he was done. But as I got closer to his office, I heard voices," she paused for a moment, and breathed in, "Gabi, Noah wasn't alone… He was with Theresa."

Gabriella stopped moving and remained motionless as the loud music around her began to fade, and the throngs of people dancing in the busy nightclub began to blur into a mass colors until everything around her seemed to disappear completely, leaving her standing alone. Theresa. Noah's former business partner. The one he had slept with. The one who had started this whole thing to begin with. Gabriella took in a deep breath and closed her eyes. Her mind going into overdrive as she tried to process this new piece of information. There was no way she couldn't not jump to conclusions now, not when that woman was involved. Giving in she let her mind get carried away by the endless possibilities.

Theresa.

He was there with _Theresa._

What in the world did that mean? Did she just come back? Or had they had been secretly seeing each other all this time? The possibility of it struck a nerve, and a flicker of anger sparked inside of Gabriella. What if he had been lying when he said she left? What if he really had been secretly seeing Theresa behind her back this whole time? This whole damn time? After all the pain, and all the tears that he had caused her, he could have possibly been with her the entire time? This whole fucking time? That was it. If Gabriella found out that he had been lying to her this whole time; that would be it. There would be no second chances. None of this forgive and forget. Not this time. No, that would be it for her. Not that she had even forgiven him for the previous incident yet.

She took in a deep breath trying to calm herself the best she could. She hadn't even heard the full story and she was already second guessing Noah. That was definitely not a good sign. She closed her eyes and leaned against the wall, the realization of what this meant for her and Noah finally hitting her hard.

"Taylor," she said, her voice sounding strong and emotionless given what she had just heard, "what did you see?"

Taylor took a deep breath and prepared for the worst. "Theresa was pressed up against the desk, and Noah was standing in between her legs with his arms circled around her waist," she said in a sad, hushed voice. "I couldn't tell if they were actually… kissing or not, from where I was," she paused for a moment, letting it all sink in a little, "but Gabriella, it definitely didn't look like it was just something friendly," she added quietly.

Gabriella took in another deep breath, and blinded several times in an attempt to push back the tears she could feel beginning to form. There it was. Even if Taylor hadn't been sure if anything had actually happened, the position they were in wasn't exactly screaming an innocent conversation in her eyes.

"Gabi," Taylor said tentatively, "I know I was giving you a hard time about it the other day, but you know I wouldn't say something like _this_ if it weren't true right? I would never purposely hurt you to prove myself right."

Gabriella gave a small nod, but then realized Taylor couldn't see her, and she was in part glad that Taylor hadn't decided to tell this to her face to face, she didn't think she'd be able to handle it right now. "I know Tay," she mumbled back quietly, "I trust you. If you say that's what you saw… then, I guess that's it," she said sadly.

It was true; she did trust Taylor's word, but inside a small part of her still wanted Taylor to be wrong. She wanted to believe that she hadn't just wasted the past four months sitting through all the pain for it to just fall apart regardless. That she hadn't wasted all these years with Noah just for nothing. And maybe, a part of her, the stubborn part, had wanted to prove everyone wrong. Prove to them that some couples do survive these sorts of things and that in the end it would be all worth it. The larger part of her knew that this was it for her. She had immediately thought the worst in Noah tonight, and if she continued on with it, she knew that she'd be forever wondering and questioning his actions, and that was no way for a marriage to operate. She shouldn't have to worry about what he was doing every second, or if he was lying to her when he returned back from a business trip. Tonight confirmed it for her, there was no point in denying it any longer, it was time to face the facts and accept the inevitable.

She and Noah just weren't going to work out.

A huge wave of sadness overcame her, and once again she had to fight back the tears.

"Gabi, talk to me, please," Taylor said finally after all the silence. She was worried about Gabriella, she had a tendency to bottle up emotions and try to work them out on her own without giving anyone else a chance to help and comfort her, and normally Taylor would let her do just that, but something this big was definitely going to take its toll.

Gabriella gave a small faint smile, "Taylor, its okay," she said, trying to sound reassuring, but was failing miserably. "I just need a little time to think through this all."

"You're sure?" Taylor responded skeptically. There was no possible way she believed Gabriella was fine, and not physically being with her right now to comfort her friend was killing her.

"Yes, Tay, I'm sure," she tried again, "And before you say anything, I know I can call you for anything, and I'm grateful for that, really, but I need to work this out for myself first."

Taylor gave up knowing that if Gabriella needed her, she would ask for it. "Okay, fine. But call me anytime okay? I'm here for you sweetie."

"I know, thanks Tay."

After saying their goodbyes Gabriella remained leaned up against the wall, trying to compose herself, even though inside there was complete turmoil.

Back at the table, Troy had his eyes on Gabriella. At first he was just keeping an eye on her, making sure she didn't get jumped by any unwanted male advances. But as he continued to watch on, he could see that by the expressions on her face and the obvious change in her overall appearance that Taylor had been the bearer of some very bad news. Seeing her walking back towards him, with a fake smile plastered back on her face, he quickly diverted his gaze and made it look like he'd been searching for potential dates.

"You're back," he said smiling at her, as he offered her a drink, which she gratefully took. He didn't ask what Taylor had called about, knowing that she wouldn't be so willing to talk about it this time. "You know, I don't think there's anyone here that tickles my fancy," he said smirking at her, "so how 'bout you finish that drink, then we'll head back to my place and crash?"

Mentally she thanked Troy. "You sure?" she asked, still sipping the drink. He nodded back as she downed the rest of the drink. "Okay, well let's go," she said picking up her purse, and let herself be guided out of the busy nightclub by Troy.

* * *

**Author's Note**: So… turns out Noah isn't as good as we all hoped. I know, I know, some of you will be a little irked, since it's unlikely that Gabriella would marry an ass, but you'll see.

I'm not too sure about this chapter… it feels off somehow, maybe a little forced and the flow between this chapter and the last doesn't seem right either? But that might just be because of the writing, since I'm trying to fuse together how I've been writing in this story so far, with writing from my previous stories, and that's proving to be a bit difficult.

Hopefully the next chapter will be up around/soon after Spring/Easter break, if all goes according to plan.

As always, _constructive criticism,_ so hit that little button in the corner, and let me know what you think! I'd love to know what you think. Whether you think the way I've made Gabriella handle the situation thus far is in character, or what you think about Troy and all that, any complaints or anything, let me know! I'll be fine with criticism as long as it's written somewhat nicely. LOL.


	4. Chapter IV

**Disclaimer: **If I owned Disney and HSM that would mean I wouldn't really have to be studying right? If only that was the case.

**Author's Note**: You guys are truly awesome. Seriously! I cannot thank you all enough! … Although, there's all these people out there with this on their alerts list that I haven't heard from. Any chance this will be the chapter you guys decide to speak up? :P LOL.

Someone left a review for one of the previous chapters saying that they got confused when there was a flashback. There's a flashback in this chapter, it's quite long, and the entire thing is in italics, so watch out for it. ;-)

* * *

Walking over to the couch Troy placed the bottles down on the table and settled down trying to get comfortable. Ever since they'd left the club Gabriella seemed intent on trying to act as if nothing was wrong, and whilst Troy knew that something had to have happened, he didn't want to push it, so he went along with it. Any other day he might have pushed her for an answer, but tonight whatever it was, seemed much bigger than anything that had happened before. So knowing that she'd tell him when she was good and ready, he just let her be.

Seeing Gabriella walk into the room, Troy let out a laugh. "I thought you were going to get changed into some of _your_ clothes."

Gabriella looked at him unimpressed, "This is not funny," she said pouting childishly. Over the past few months since Troy had arrived, Taylor and herself, had spent a lot of time at Troy's, just hanging out, and quite often after a night out, Gabriella would find herself too tired to drive home for the night and as a result ended up staying the night at Troy's. Taylor, however, even though Troy had offered, always refused. After Gabriella had to endure sleeping in some of Troy's oversized clothes, she decided it was best to just leave a set of clothes and pyjamas at his place. However, unable to find her spare pair of pyjamas that she kept at Troy's, she found herself standing before Troy in the smallest of his shirts and tracksuit pants she could find, and even though they were the smallest ones in his closet, she still looked as if she was drowning in them.

"Oh, no, it's definitely funny," he said grinning at her. "The smallest thing you could find was my old college basketball training shirt?"

"Well my PJ's weren't there!" she said huffing as she sat on the couch beside him, and brought her feet up onto the couch and trying to get comfortable.

Troy grinned back at her sheepishly. "Um, must still be in the wash?" he said questioning Gabriella simply rolled her eyes at him. "Okay, I take it back, you look adorable."

Again she rolled her eyes at him. "You're just saying that because it's my turn to choose the DVD and you don't want me to choose a chick flick," she said as a smirk appeared on her face.

He gave her a cheeky grin, "It was worth a try?"

She laughed at him and reached for one of the bottles on the table. Taking a sip she cringed, "Beer? You're trying to get out of a chick flick and you brought out beer?"

He shrugged, "There wasn't anything else, and so I had to make do with what I had. And if I'm watching another chick flick I'd much rather do it with more alcohol in my system, thank you very much."

She grinned at him, "Okay, this one isn't that bad!" she said as she turned on the DVD. Troy simply groaned.

...

...

...

Taking her eyes off the screen she glanced over at Troy, smirking as he once again burst into laughter. "Told you," she said in a sing song voice, with a self satisfied look on her face.

"What?" He replied distractedly, before snorting at what had just happened on the screen.

"You know, we haven't even seen half the movie and you've been in hysterics since the first ten minutes."

"Hey! Did you see what she just did to Kate? How could I not think that was funny?" he said quickly trying to defend himself.

She shot him a look, "You even know names now? Just say it, you like this one!" she teased, a smile playing on her lips.

"Okay, I admit, this chick flick isn't too bad." She grinned triumphantly and turned her attention back onto the screen. "And I am so glad that I was never anything like him. Payback is definitely a bitch."

"You mean to tell me that the Wildcat superstar wasn't a John Tucker," she said in mock surprise.

Going along with it, Troy dramatically clutched his heart and closed his eyes, "Gabriella that hurt." A cheeky grin appeared on his face as he opened his eyes to find Gabriella playfully rolling her eyes at him. "But really, we were nothing alike, except for the basketball thing, and the fact that we both looked like a mix between an Abercrombie model and a Greek God."

"Wow, and a modest too! Maybe you do have more in common than you thought," she joked back good naturedly before the pair broke into laughter and continued to watch the movie.

Gabriella smiled to herself in content; this was exactly what she needed; to do something normal that distracted her and helped her forget about everything that she had just found out. But with just that small thought, everything she had been trying to push into the back of her mind came tumbling back into the foreground. Mentally she groaned, and tried to get back to the movie at hand, but just at that moment the scene changed to the two main characters kissing. In her mind different visuals of what Taylor had described to her began to emerge. Involuntarily she shuddered and shook her head, trying once again to concentrate on the movie.

After a few minutes she gave up, and instead just stared at the television, with her eyes glazed over, seeing nothing but blurs of color that were supposed to represent people. Thinking to herself she knew it was a little bit childish, if not stupid, that she had tried to distract herself from the reality that her marriage had fallen apart, by watching some useless movie. Realistically she knew that nothing would ever make her completely forget about it, and that the sooner she learnt to accept it, the sooner she would be better off. Sighing, she quickly glanced over at Troy who seemed to be completely engrossed in the movie. She knew that he knew something had happened, and she was completely grateful that he had let her go on with this façade, but she knew sooner or later she would have to tell him.

"Noah was with Theresa tonight. Taylor saw them," she said suddenly, not taking her eyes off the television before her. Quickly Troy's laughter died down, and his face lost all happiness, instead replaced by a somber expression.

They were both motionless for a moment, Gabriella still fixated on the screen, and Troy stunned by what she had so suddenly dropped on him. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Troy moving his body around to face her. "Gabi," he said simply. But even with just that one word she could hear the change in his voice; a mixture of shock, sympathy and pity, all rolled into one. "Gabriella, talk to me." But still she didn't divert her attention. Stopping the DVD player and turning off the television, Troy shifted closer to her and put his hand on her arm, giving her no choice but to look at him.

Sighing she turned to look at him, but on seeing his sympathy etched all over it turned her gaze to rest on his hand that was on her arm.

"Gabi, why didn't you tell me?" he said in a low comforting voice as he rubbed his hand up and down her arm.

She bit her lip and took in a deep breath, concentrating all her strength into not breaking down. It was hard enough having to admit it to him in the first place, and now that she had, she knew that they were bound to talk about it, but knowing didn't make the act of doing it any less difficult. "I knew that if I told you, it would be real," she said mumbling quietly, still not looking him in the eye. "And that it would mean that everything between Noah and I was finally over."

Wordlessly Troy pulled her towards him and brought her into a tight hug. In that very moment his heart broke. She didn't deserve this; no one did, but especially not Gabriella. God he hated Noah so much right now. Who the fuck did he think he was doing this to her? Who the hell gave him the right to hurt Gabriella so much? Wasn't what he had already done to her enough? Anger flowed throughout Troy's body, but knowing that his anger would not be of any use right now, he took several deep breaths, and tired to concentrate on helping Gabriella. What he felt wasn't important right now, Gabriella was what was important.

He didn't say anything, he just held onto her tighter, hoping that his actions would express how much he was feeling for right now, far better than he could say through words. He kept her in a tight embrace until her breath began to become uneven, and he would have sworn she was crying; had it not been for the fact that his shirt still was still dry. "Gabi just let it all out," he said sympathetically, as he rubbed small circles on her back.

Pulling out of his grasp, she shook her head violently, "No. No, I can't."

Again his heart ached for her. How someone could hurt someone like Gabriella was just beyond him. Softly he cupped the side of her face with his hand, "Gabi, it's only me. It's okay."

For the first time she looked him in the eye, and he could clearly see how much pain he had caused her. "No, if I cry, then it means he's won."

"Oh god Gabriella," he said before bringing her back into another hug. He knew she had this tendency to hold things in and try to deal with them by herself, and it killed him that even now she was still trying to stay strong. He wanted her to know that it was okay to cry, to let it all out, especially now when breaking down might have been the thing she needed to do the most.

For a moment, he wished that he had told her all those months ago what he really thought about Noah; about her. As if maybe by him doing so she wouldn't be in this position right now. Right now, he would give anything to take her pain away.

"Why Troy?" she mumbled against his chest; the pain that he had seen in her face, now obvious in her voice. "Why?"

"I don't know Gabi," he said sadly, wishing that he had an answer for her.

Troy continued to hold onto her tightly, listening and feeling as she breathed in and out deeply. "I can't believe I ever took him back," she said quietly.

...

...

...

_Gabriella walked aimlessly around the park, clutching her coat tightly as a cool breeze blew past. Glancing down at her watch she noted the time; 1.15, "Crap," she muttered softly to herself, she was late. Looking around at her surroundings she tried to calculate how far away she was from their meeting point, noticing that she hadn't drifted that far she didn't bother to speed up her pace; even if she was the one who had asked him to meet her here._

Earlier that morning she had called Noah, asking him to meet her at the park near their house, saying that they needed to talk.

_It had been two weeks since the two had had any real contact, but not due to a lack of trying on Noah's part. He had called her numerous times over the past two weeks, tried to stop by her office at work too, but every time she either hung up on him, didn't bother answering his call at all or her secretary stopped him from seeing her._

She stopped walking when she spotted him a few meters away sitting on a park bench overlooking the lake. She took in a deep breath, and mentally tried to calm herself. For two weeks she had tried to figure out what it was that she wanted to do. Should she leave him? Should she stay? All her friends and family told her to leave his sorry ass, and that she deserved better than him, and part of her wanted to do that. But another part still loved him and believed that he was still the man she loved, even if he had made a huge mistake.

_With all the confusion she hoped that if she saw him, she'd be able to make her decision, and at that moment seeing him sitting there, she still wasn't sure what it was that she was deciding. Realizing that it was now or never, she slowly walked over towards him._

_Walking around to the other end of the bench she stopped, "Hi," she said simply, making Noah aware of her presence._

_He stood up when he heard her. "Hi," he responded, his eyes looking into hers, trying to figure out whether he should be overjoyed or depressed over what she was about to say, but he found that he was unable to read them as he once could._

_"Sorry I'm late," she said quietly, still not moving from her spot._

_Noah didn't move either, "It's not a problem."_

_The two stood in awkwardly in silence for a while. Noah was unsure of what to do. After all, he was the one waiting on her decision; she was the one who held the fate of their marriage in her hands. Shoving his hands into his coat pockets he stood there watching and waiting for her to make a move._

_She looked up at the man that stood before her, trying to take in his whole appearance. Underneath his thick coat she could see his untucked, ruffled up shirt, hanging out from his jumper. His pants had a number of creases in it, and looked as if it had been sitting in a crumpled up heap for a while. His hair was messy and there were dark circles underneath his eyes. Even his skin looked drained and lifeless. All in all, he looked horrible. Not at all like the handsome man she saw only weeks ago. Clearly these past two weeks had taken a toll on him too, and she was glad for it. At least this meant that she wasn't the only one suffering, and that maybe he was really sorry._

_A strong breeze blew, and Gabriella shivered noticeably, moving her hands up and down her arms quickly. "Oh Gabriella," Noah said as he began to take off his coat and walk towards her to put it over her shoulders. Even though she could have done with the coat she took a few steps backwards as he came towards her. Noah stopped. "Oh," he said dejectedly, interpreting that as her saying that she they were over. They continued to stand there, Gabriella shivering more and more with every passing second. Knowing he couldn't just leave her standing there in the cold he walked back towards the bench, put the coat down on one end of it, then sat down at the other end of the bench. "Gabriella, please take the coat. You'll freeze."_

_She waited for a moment before walking over to the bench and wrapping herself in his large coat and sitting down. Trying to warm herself up a little, she snuggled into the coat, and unknowingly breathed in his scent. Taking in another breath, she realized that she had missed it._

_"I'm sorry," he said as he looked out over the lake, avoiding her gaze. He couldn't handle looking at her face knowing that she had already decided their fate. "I never meant for it to happen. I never meant to hurt you."_

_She heard and saw the regret in his voice, he sounded like he was truly sorry. She sighed, so far being with him wasn't helping anything. She was still just as confused now as she was before. Shifting around, she moved her arms so that her elbows rested on her knees, and leant her head down into her interlinked hands, closing her eyes._

_Hearing her movement, he glanced over at her quickly; a shining object peeking slightly out from her shirt caught his eye. Taking a moment to see exactly what it was a small smile appeared on his face. "You're still wearing it," he said simply, his voice already sounding that little bit happier._

_Lifting her head up, she gave him a quizzical look. "Your necklace; your ring, you still have it on."_

_Bringing her hand up towards her neck, she gently fingered the ring that hung off her necklace, watching as it glinted in the sunlight. Gabriella hadn't even realized she was still wearing it, in fact, she had only just realized that she had never even taken it off in the first place. The thought of doing so hadn't even come to her. Slowly she smiled; there was her answer._

_She turned to him, closing her eyes and taking in a deep breath before she began, "I want us to get past this," she said in a slow even voice, "I want you to come back."_

_A wide grin appeared on Noah's face lighting up all his features and he quickly tried to shuffle down the bench towards her, but as he did so, she stood up and backed away from the bench. His grin faltered and he looked up at her in confusion._

_"I know what I said," she said answering his unasked question. "It's just going to take a little time. I can't just forgive and forget about it just like that, but, I don't want to throw us out the window either." She sighed, "Let's just take it slowly."_

_Noah's smile came back, "Yeah, I can do that. We'll go slow."_

_She gave him a small smile in reply as silence once again enveloped them. Noah coughed awkwardly, "Erm, can I, um, would it be okay if I hugged you?" he questioned, sounding like a young boy._

_She considered it for a moment before giving him a small nod. She watched as he walked towards her slowly before he wrapped her in a gentle hug. Feeling his arms around her she remained motionless for a moment; trying to force the pain she had anticipated in feeling, back down again. Finally she eased comfortably into his touch, and moved her own arms around his waist. Breathing him in as she did so she realised she had missing his touch, his smell; him. They were going to get through this, she just knew it._

_As she closed her eyes she heard Noah muffle a soft, "Thank you," into her hair._

_..._

_..._

_..._

"I can't believe I was so stupid to believe that it would still work out between us," she added, still mumbling into his shirt.

Troy leaned back from their embrace, and looked at her in surprise. "Gabi, listen to me, you weren't the stupid one okay? This is not your fault," he said.

She shook her head again, not believing his words. "No, this is my fault, I was the one who took him back, I was the one who was fooled by him; this was all my doing."

"Gabriella," he said again, his voice stronger this time. "No, this was not your fault. None of it was."

Shrugging out of his grasp she got up off the chair, "No, don't you get it Troy? I let this happen!" she said angrily as she stalked about the living room, throwing her hands up into the air, "I could have ended this all before it got any worse, but I didn't! I did this to myself!"

Troy couldn't believe what he was hearing. He thought he hated Noah before, but what hatred he felt for him was merely a tiny spark of what he was feeling right now. He couldn't believe that she actually thought this was her doing. God, Noah had really screwed her up.

Getting up from the couch, he firmly put his hands on her shoulders, and looked her directly in the eyes. "Gabi, none of this is your fault okay?" She began to shake her head again, but Troy wouldn't have it. "No, Gabi, no," Troy said again, but she still wasn't listening. "God dammit Gabriella, don't blame yourself for his mistakes!" he said strongly, now getting frustrated. "He was the one who screwed up, not you. You gave him a second chance, and he blew it. He was the idiot, not you."

Her eyes were beginning to water now, but she wouldn't let them fall. Instead she looked Troy straight in the eye and asked, "Then why Troy?" Knowing he couldn't give her an answer she continued. "If none of this is my fault, why did he do it? Just tell me why I was so foolish to believe that one day it would all be okay again." She tore her gaze away from his eyes, feeling so angry at herself for letting this happen.

Troy just stared at her for a moment. Carefully he brought his hand to her face, stroking the side of her face softly, and forced her to look at him, "Because you're you," he said simply, his voice sounding much softer than it had moments ago. "Because you're trusting, and loyal and you forgive people when they might not deserve it. Gabriella, you're this amazingly beautiful woman who sees the good in everyone, even when everyone else can't see it. And none of that makes you foolish, okay? It just makes you a better person than the rest of us. Any guy who has done the things that Noah has done to you, should count himself extremely lucky to get a second chance. And you gave Noah that; do you know how many women would have thrown him out without a second thought?"

He paused, making sure she was taking it all in. "Noah was stupid enough to mess up one of the best things he had going for him, because any guy would be lucky to have someone who was even half the person you are, okay? So none of this was any of your fault, and I won't hear another word of it."

She studied his face as he spoke those words. His blue eyes no longer conveying sympathy and pity, but now glistering with determination and love. His voice sounded so sincere and so sure, that she couldn't help but believe every word that was coming out of his mouth. And just like that, all doubt she had in herself vanished. She smiled gratefully at him, and carefully wrapped her arms around his waist, leaning her head against his chest, feeling waves of comfort washing over her. "Thank you Troy," she whispered.

He smiled, thankful that she finally believed the truth in his words, and hugged her back.

Here in his arms it occurred to her that never once had Troy told her what to do with her situation with Noah. Not once in the whole three months he'd been here. "Troy?" she questioned quietly.

"Hm?"

"You were the only one you know," she said simply. He broke their embrace and looked down at her questioningly, cocking his head to the side in confusion. "You were the only one not to tell me what to do," she continued, "Why didn't you say anything?"

He sighed, a sign that he didn't particularly want to answer, so she went on. "Not once in the last three months have you ever said anything bad about Noah. You didn't even know him, and you still didn't say a word! Not even when I first told you did you say anything, you just wrapped your arms around me and told me it would be okay. I just don't understand why you wouldn't say anything? Everyone has told me what to do, my mom, Taylor, all my friends, except you. How come?"

Her eyes were staring deeply into his, looking desperately for an answer. "I didn't think it was my place to." He saw her about to object, but he interrupted her and went on. "I didn't think that you needed someone else in your life telling you how to live it. I know everyone wanted the best for you, and that they were just looking out for you, but I didn't think you needed someone else telling you everything you already knew. What good was would I have done if I told you what I thought? You didn't need that; you needed someone to be on your side, someone to just be there for you and not give judgment," he said giving a small shrug as if it didn't matter.

But it mattered to Gabriella. A small smile appeared on her face as she looked up at him, so grateful that he was back in her life again. As her dark eyes locked in with his brighter ones, she noticed that they somehow looked different, felt different. It wasn't just his eyes either; even being in his arms felt different to all the other times he had comforted her. It was if something between them had changed in that moment.

Maybe it was the fact that all the words that were coming out of his mouth were perfect. Or maybe it was the fact that even though he had only been back in her life for three small months, he still knew exactly what she needed, without her having to tell him. Or maybe it was simply the fact that in the moment, when she needed comfort the most, it was Troy who was right there giving it to her, telling her exactly what she needed to hear.

But whatever the reason for it was, right then in that moment, she wanted nothing more than to stay here in his arms, looking up into his eyes. And without a second thought she brought her hands up to his face, cupping it and bringing it down to her face, and kissed him full on the lips.

Caught off guard Troy hesitated, but only for a moment before he gave into the kiss, kissing her back just as intensely.

Blocking off her mind, she let herself get lost in the incredible feeling of his lips against hers and the familiar tingles that they caused to vibrate throughout her body. Quickly she deepened the kiss, wanting, no, needing, to feel more of those lips that she had unknowingly missed over the years, but that now seemed so familiar it was as if no time had passed at all.

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**Author's Note:** Ooooh! And there's a bit of Troy/Gabriella action you've all been waiting for. I'm guessing half of you will be happy about that, and the other half will think I'm using it as a big cop out… Haha. But I have it all planned out you'll just have to wait and see. :P

I know a huge chunk of that chapter was a flashback, but I think it's important to find out just how and why Gabriella took him back. If the flashback feels awkward, it's meant to be. And if you think that Gabriella should have been more angry at Noah back then, well, once again you'll have to wait and trust me that I think I know what I'm doing. LOL.

As always, constructive criticism is loved! So go on, click that little button and tell me what you think! Like it, love it, hate it, any complains, or praises, hehe, let me know! I'll love you for it either way… as long as the criticism is written at least a little bit nicely. LOL.


	5. Chapter V

**Disclaimer:** Maybe if I wished upon a star, one day HSM would be mine…

**Author's Note**: I've got to say it.. Holy crap! Okay, that last chapter got me more reviews than I have ever gotten in any of the previous chapters, or even any of my one shots! You. Guys. Are. Amazing! And it's not just the amount of reviews, but what you said in them too! I love you guys. LOL.

Also, thank you to those people that hadn't reviewed until the last chapter. It was great to hear what you thought of the story so far. :D

Now on with it!

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The sun shone brightly against Gabriella's face, illuminating the smile that was currently plastered over it as she slept soundly in Troy's bed. A particularly loud bird chirped outside the window causing the brunette to stir slightly. Outside the bird continued to chirp, which effectively woke Gabriella up, tearing her away from her extremely happy dream. She couldn't remember exactly what it was about, but she knew that it had been a good one; one of those dreams that left you feeling warm and happy for the day.

Fluttering her eyes open she groaned at the brightness of the sun and buried her head into one of the pillows on Troy's bed, breathing in his scent. When she had gotten used to the sun she rolled back over and threw the sheets back slightly.

Staring out the window with the smile still playing on her face, the events of the night before slowly came tumbling back into her conscious mind. Troy, the club, Taylor's phone call, Noah and Theresa together, feelings of sadness, hurt, anger… kissing Troy… it all flashed in her mind and her smile quickly faded as she came back to reality.

She sighed wondering how things could become so royally messed up in one night. She didn't even know where to begin, Noah, Troy… either way last night had to be one of the worst and most emotionally draining nights of her entire life.

Bringing her hands up to her face she covered her face and rubbed her eyes taking in a few deep breaths. She didn't want to deal with this. She didn't want to _have_ to deal with this. But it had happened, and she knew that running from her problems wasn't the answer right now. She took a quick glance over at the alarm clock; 5.45, far too early to be dealing with life changing problems. Turning around and burying her head back into the pillow she tried to fall back to sleep, deciding that life altering decisions could wait a few hours.

From the couch, Troy stretched out his arms and legs and let out a yawn as he woke up. Looking around the room for a moment, he tried to figure out why he had slept on the cold couch, without a blanket, when he could have been in a nice, warm, comfy bed instead. Upon seeing Gabriella's jacket and handbag by the door, and the half empty beer bottles that littered the table, the night before came flooding back into his mind, giving him his answer.

Yawning once again he glanced at his watch; 7.25, definitely time to get up for work. Expecting Gabriella to be still sleeping, he quietly tip-toed into his room to turn off his alarm clock before it woke her, thinking that she'd need the extra rest. Leaning over the bed and Gabriella's sleeping form he effectively switched it off, before standing straight and taking a good look at the brunette beauty.

Her eyes were scrunched up slightly and she kept moving about every few moments, as if she was struggling with something. A sympathetic smile came over his face as he continued to watch her, his heart going out to her. She didn't deserve this. Someone as amazing, and loving, and as beautiful as Gabriella didn't deserve everything that had happened to her in the past few months. He sighed and pulled the sheets that had been thrown back, up to her chin.

Gently sitting down on the edge of the bed he gave a small smile as he watched her nestle deeper into the bed, looking much more at ease than she had moments ago. Carefully leaning over her, he lightly brushed his palm over the side of her face. Unknowingly she leaned into his touch, and he smiled once again. His mind was telling him to stop, that it was wrong, but his hand wouldn't move. He sat there quietly, just tenderly stroking her face and watching her as she slept. She looked so peaceful now, as compared to how she had looked when he walked in, and a small part of him wanted to believe that it was because he was here now.

"Gabs," he murmured as to not wake her up, "I'm so sorry this had to happen to you. You didn't deserve any of this." She moved slightly and he froze. He waited a few minutes as she eased back to sleep before he let out a deep breath of relief and continued again. He needed to get this out. To somehow tell her how he felt, before the day officially started and he went back to pretending that he was nothing but her friend. "If… if there was some way to take away all your pain, I would do it." He paused and gazed down at her lovingly. "If you let me, I could be the one to fix you. I _want_ to be the one who fixes you."

He waited to see if she would somehow react to this news, half hoping she had, half that she hadn't. Sighing, he carefully got off the bed and began to quietly move about the room gathering various articles of clothing before retreating to his bathroom to shower.

Hearing the water running Gabriella slowly opened one of her eyes and checked to see if the coast was clear before she sat up in bed. With her hand she carefully rubbed her cheek, trying to gain back feeling in her cheek that she had been biting for the last, god knows how long.

The first thing that came to her mind was, shit. Her mind began to work in overdrive as she tried to figure out what the hell to do. Things had definitely gotten much more complicated now that she knew exactly how Troy felt. And she had kissed him last night too. Groaning she knew she had to get out of here. She needed to think, and she couldn't do that when one of the very people she needed to think about was only a few meters away showering. Jumping out of the bed she scrambled about the room taking off, and putting on her clothing, before she made a mad dash out of Troy's apartment.

Getting her bag out of the backseat of her car, Taylor sighed. She had spent half the day trying to stay away from Noah, knowing that if she saw him, that she wouldn't be able to control herself. And the other half of the day she had spent looking for Gabriella. She hadn't heard from her since she had called her last night to tell her of what she had seen, and after calling her numerous times only to get her voicemail, Taylor was definitely getting worried. She had even dropped in at the hospital, hoping to find Gabriella there, but to her dismay neither Gabriella nor Troy could be found. She hoped that was a sign that Troy was with her, making sure she was okay.

Walking towards her apartment she noticed a figure hunched over by her door. Cautiously she continued to walk towards her door until she realized that the figure was the very girl she had been looking for. A sigh of relief came over her before she rushed towards Gabriella and knelt down in front of her. "Gabriella! I was so worried about you!" she said hurriedly. Slowly Gabriella lifted her head from her knees, where they had been resting, and brushed back her brown locks, immediately letting Taylor see the distress written all over her face and her slightly watery eyes. "I'm so sorry Gabi," she said regretfully before enveloping her friend in a tight hug.

Gabriella closed her eyes and hugged Taylor back, thankful for the comfort. "Tay, I- I think," she began quietly before Taylor cut her off.

"Sweetie, how long have you been out here?" she said worriedly, as she pulled back from the embrace.

Gabriella sighed and shrugged glancing down at her watch quickly. "Since lunch maybe? So four-five hours."

Taylor eyes widened, "Why didn't you call me? I would have come straight away! I was out looking for you for half the day."

Gabriella gave a small smile, appreciative to have such a great friend. "I needed time to clear my head." Taylor simply gave her a sympathetic smile and pulled Gabriella in for another hug. The two sat in a quiet embrace for a while before Gabriella untangled herself from Taylor grasp. "Tay," she said quietly, as she bit the side of her lip to stop it from quivering. "Everything is messed up."

"I know it is sweetie, but you'll get through this okay?" she responded tentatively. "Noah-"

Gabriella scrunched up her face slightly and interrupted Taylor before she could say any more, "No. It's, it's not just Noah."

Taylor gave her a confused look. "What do you mean?"

Gabriella bit down on her lip harder, "I might have done something last night to screw thing up between Troy and I too." Taylor gave her a curious look, wordlessly prompting her to continue. She sighed. "I kissed Troy," she said quietly as she fixated her gaze on a small stone by Taylor's shoe, not wanting to see the look of shock written across Taylor's face.

Neither of the two said anything, Taylor still reeling over this new piece of information, whilst Gabriella continued to admire the stone. Coughing to break the silence Taylor stood up and dusted herself off. "Come on sweetie, let's get you inside and then you can tell me what happened," she said simply helping Gabriella up and taking her keys out of her pocket.

...

...

...

_Bringing her hands up to his face, she cupped it and brought it down to her face, kissing him full on the lips._

_Caught off guard, Troy hesitated, but only for a moment before he gave into the kiss, kissing her back just as intensely._

_Blocking off her mind, she let herself get lost in the incredible feeling of his lips against hers, and the familiar tingles that they caused to vibrate through her body. Quickly she deepened the kiss, threading her fingers into his hair, and pulling his body closer to hers._

_Eagerly Troy responded; putting his hands around her waist, holding her tightly against his body. Too caught up in the moment to fully realize the implications of his actions. _

_They continued to kiss and touch each other; each trying to re-familiarize themselves with the others body, sparking memories of all those years they had spent together back into their conscious mind. When the need for air became too much, Gabriella slowed down the kiss, lingering her lips over his slightly before pulling back completely and opening her eyes. She kept her eyes on his closed ones, watching the expression on his face. As he opened his eyes she saw what she thought was happiness, only for it to be quickly replaced by a look of panic._

_Troy's eyes grew wide at the realization of exactly what he had done. Quickly he pulled out of her reach and began to nervously pace around the room. "Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit," he muttered softly to himself continually. This was not supposed to happen. The plan was to make sure she was okay, hold her, comfort her, make her feel better. No where in that plan did it mention going anywhere near her lips. Mentally he slapped himself. How could he have been so stupid! He should have been in control. He'd been able to hold back for three months, but the moment she tells him Noah screws up beyond repair, he dives in for the kill? What in the world was wrong with him!_

_He stopped pacing backwards and forwards and instead began to slowly bang his head against the wall. "Troy, you're an idiot," he said to himself, completely forgetting Gabriella was still in the room._

_Gabriella watched him as he did so, already missing the feeling of his touch against her skin. "Troy?" she said tentatively; confused by his actions, as she slowly walked towards him._

_Her voice brought him back to reality. "Gabriella, I'm so sorry! That wasn't meant to happen," he said quickly as he whirled around to face her. _

_She felt as if she was in a daze, as if she had just woken up, and she didn't know quite what to say. Her mind was being flooded by so many thoughts, it was getting confusing. All she knew is that kissing Troy felt good, and that when she kissed him all her thoughts seemed to disappear. "So.. you're taking back the kiss?" she questioned slowly._

"_Yes!" A look of hurt quickly appeared on her face. "I mean, no!" Now a look of confusion appeared. He sighed, "I mean, it wasn't meant to happen, at least not like that, not right now. You just found out Noah was with Theresa, and your emotions are all over the place, and I was just meant to comfort you. I didn't mean to kiss you too."_

_She considered this for a moment. "Troy I kissed you first; I'm pretty sure I knew what I was doing."_

"_That's the thing Gabi, and I'm sorry to say this, but I don't think you did. Sure you say that now, but tomorrow morning you'll wake up and realize it was a mistake."_

"_Troy," she said simply. _

"_No, Gabi, seriously, I shouldn't have let it happen. I didn't mean to take advantage of you like that, I mean, I would never! I should have been in control. Your emotions are running wild right now, and you needed some comfort, and that's why you kissed me. And I get it, I do. But it I still shouldn't have let it happen. I'm so sorry Gabi!"_

_Looking him straight in the eye as he said it, the sensible part of her brain was thankful to Troy for being so logical, but another part of her just wanted to kiss him for being so understanding. "Troy.." she began again, but stopped letting his name linger in the air around them when she realized she didn't know what to say to that._

"_Gabi, listen to me, tomorrow we'll just pretend it didn't happen okay? No sweat. You have enough to deal with as it is without having to worry about us on top of it too," he said reassuringly as he patted her softly on the shoulder. Still a bit unsure of what to say, she simply nodded. "Okay, good," Troy said in an upbeat voice as he clapped his hands. "Now I think you should go to bed now, you must be drained." _

_Even in her current state she rolled her eyes at him. "Fine, dad, I'm going." _

_He grinned back at her, "Good."_

_Retreating back to his bedroom Gabriella paused before she walked through the door. "Troy?" she questioned. He turned back around to face her. "Thanks," she said simply as a small smile played on her face._

_He smiled back. "Anytime Montez." He watched on as she closed the door slightly and disappeared before flopping down on the couch. He ran his hand through his hair, stopping at his neck to scratch it. Thinking back on the past few hours, he sighed. He knew the kiss shouldn't have happened. He hadn't planned it, or purposely wanted it to happen; he just got caught up in it. _

_He sighed once again as he thought about how much more complicated this kiss was going to make it for him. Leaning his head against the back of the couch, he couldn't help but chuckle slightly; a small smile appeared on his face, as he remembered the feeling of her lips against his. As much as he knew it was wrong, he couldn't help but smile at the fact that their kisses still had as much spark and intensity to them, as they did all those years ago._

_But as much as part of him did want the kiss, he still knew it was wrong, and tomorrow he was going to try his hardest to forget that it had happened, for Gabriella's sake. _

...

...

...

"…And that's what happened," Gabriella finished off as she stopped walking around Taylor's apartment and looked at her expectantly.

Taylor sat crossed legged on one of her couches, coffee cup in hand, speechless. "Wow." Inside Taylor wanted to scream with joy, glad that it had finally happened, she _knew_ something was going on between those two. It had taken three months, but it had finally happened.

Gabriella threw her head back and groaned. "Yes, wow. Now help me Tay, I don't know what to do!" Gabriella said pleading with her, almost whimpering, as she sat down next to her on the couch.

Taylor shook her head, trying to shake the happy thoughts out of her mind since Gabriella obviously didn't look _that_ pleased it had happened at all. She had to be supportive; her best friend had just found out her husband was a lying son of a bitch, and she just kissed her ex-boyfriend, who was obviously still in love with her; she needed her help. "And what did Troy say again this morning, when he thought you were sleeping?" she asked, trying to get a grasp on the whole situation, as she placed her coffee cup on the table.

Gabriella bit her lip. "That he wanted to be the one to fix me, if I'd let him," she said, as worry came over her face once again. She covered her face with her hands and leaned into Taylor's shoulder.

"Okay. Now, tell me exactly what is running through that head of yours?"

Lifting her head up, she answered. "That's the thing! There's so much going on in there, that I can't separate any of my thoughts long enough to think clearly." She felt like she could cry. "It's just, there's still Noah to deal with, and Troy. Oh God, I shouldn't have kissed him! What was I thinking? Oh that's right, I wasn't!" she said huffing, as she berated herself. "It's all such a mess Taylor!" Her eyes began to water all over again, but once again she wouldn't let them fall, not yet.

Taylor put a hand on her shoulder, "Gabi, breathe okay. In… and out," she said comfortingly.

She mimicked what Taylor said, taking in a deep breath, breathing out and then repeating it. She could feel herself calming down ever so slightly.

"So we're going to go one thing at a time, okay?" Gabriella nodded. "We'll start with Noah," Taylor said simply. "Are you… how are you feeling about that?"

Gabriella took in another deep breath and looked Taylor in the eye. "Honestly? I," she paused, "I'm angry, and hurt, and sad. I don't want to believe that he did it again, you know? It feels like it did the first time, only now I'm angrier that I let him do it to me again." Taylor rubbed a comforting hand along her arm, urging her to continue. "I hate myself for giving him the chance to hurt me again," she said quietly. "But, I think, I know now that it was something I had to do… like I had to know for sure that it was over between us. But, knowing that doesn't make it hurt any less." She gulped and bit her lip to stop it from trembling any more than it already was.

"Gabi…"

"No, it's okay Tay. You know when I realised it was over? Last night, before you even told me the whole story, I was already jumping to conclusions. What kind of a wife does that?!"

Taylor was getting very confused. She knew Gabriella was upset, but the jumping around from being distraught one second, to angry the next, was beginning to make her a tad dizzy. "Gabriella, don't beat yourself up over this! Any woman would have done that in your circumstances!"

"That still doesn't make it right, Tay," she said simply, as she now wore a sad expression on her face. "It was like I finally let myself realize that it was over, you know? And as much pain as he's caused me, part of me still loves him." Taylor wrapped her in another tight hug as her eyes began to water again, and she had to close her eyes and sniff back the tears to prevent them from falling.

"Tay?" Gabriella mumbled against Taylor's shoulder. "That kiss with Troy, what if it stuffs up our whole relationship?" she questioned worriedly, biting her lip once again.

Taylor pulled back and looked at her, positioning her hands on Gabriella's shoulders. "It won't. This is you and Troy we're talking about. The bond you two have is impossible to break. You're like peanut butter and jelly," she said firmly, not leaving any room for doubt in her response.

"But what if this is the thing to finally break us? What if we've had too many chances?"

"Gabs, listen to me, Troy loves you okay." She saw Gabriella begin to protest and shake her head. "No, you heard him yourself, he loves you, and even though he does, he's willing to put his feelings aside to be there _for you_. He's not going to let you disappear from his life again, not that easily."

Gabriella took in a deep breath and let it all soak in. "I-I just don't know what to do," she said slowly, as her voice quivered. "My brain is so scattered. It's like I'm in the middle of this huge maze, and I can't find the right way out. I don't want to hurt him Tay; it's _Troy_. But at the same time, I'm so confused, and I still can't believe I kissed him, and I feel so guilty for it."

A look of confusion appeared across Taylor's face. "Why guilty?"

"Because this is exactly what Noah did to me. And I'm still married to him Tay. It doesn't matter that I knew that he had cheated on me, when I kissed Troy, I was still married. And I feel horrible for it! Just because he cheated, it doesn't mean I have to do the same. It's just not right," she said solemnly.

Unable to look Taylor in the eye, she looked away before she continued. "Worst bit is, it's not just that I kissed Troy, that's making me feel guilty. It's the fact that I enjoyed the kiss, a lot." Taylor had to hide her excitement. "It felt like," she paused, trying to find words to accurately describe it. "I can't even find the right word to describe it. It felt so much better than I ever remember it feeling. Everything just disappeared when I kissed him." She closed her eyes after she'd said it, and buried her face in her hands. As much as the kiss was so amazing, and how much it felt so right, at the same time it was wrong, so very wrong.

Taylor was unable to contain her smile, "That wasn't just any kiss that you can forget about, is it?"

Taking her hands away from her face, she sighed. "I don't think so, and it's only making me feel so much worse. Thank God Troy was being logical, I cannot imagine how much I'd be beating myself up over this if we'd done anything more." She leaned her head against Taylor's shoulder, and Taylor rested her head on top of hers.

"See, what did I tell you? Even though he loves you, he's still willing to do what he knows is right by you, even though it goes directly against what he's feeling. That's love Gabi."

She didn't want to hear that, but she knew Taylor was right. "Yeah…" she said softly.

"So what are you going to do now?"

She took a deep breath. "My life has just been turned upside down. Everything is such a mess, and I feel like I'm spinning out of control. I think I just need to get away from everything for a while, to clear my head and figure out what I really want. It's over with Noah now... but if I'm not careful I could really screw up everything I have with Troy too, and I don't think I can handle doing that too, right now. Which is why, as soon as I deal with Noah, I think I'm going to call Maddie."

Taylor lifted her head and looked down at Gabriella questioningly. "Are you…?"

Against her shoulder Taylor could feel her nod. "Do you think it's the right thing to do, Tay?" she questioned softly.

She considered this for a moment. "I think you need to do, whatever it is you think you need to do. You're used to being in control, having everything balanced and in order. And if you think doing this is going to help you get that back, then I think you should do it."

For the first time since that morning she smiled, "Thanks Tay. I needed to hear that," she said quietly.

* * *

**Author's Note:** I'm guessing most of you guys want to yell at me now for what I did with the kiss. LOL. It's okay, go yell, part of me wants to yell at myself too. LOL. But I did give you that sweet Troy bit at the start to tide you over. Not so much because I felt that you guys needed it, but because I needed it too. LOL. And I know Gabriella is so confused about everything, but it's a good thing the way I see it… I do love the angsty!Gabriella. LOL.

Why is Troy so sweet in my fic? He's way too perfect. LOL. Maybe a little _too_ perfect.

And Maddie? Remember her from Chapter 1 and 2?

Anyway, go ahead, click that little button and tell me what you think! Come on… I just know half of you are just dying to yell at me… Do it!


	6. Chapter VI

Disclaimer: … Yeah, still not mine unfortunately

**Disclaimer:** … Yeah, unfortunately it's still not mine.

**Author's Note**: I'm going to start to sound like a broken record, but you guys are amazing! I particularly want to thank all those that mentioned that they didn't usually read stories like this one, but gave it a go anyway. You guys are seriously awesome.

I would have had this chapter up a bit earlier, but my brain is going slightly crazy with all this angst, so I wrote a little Corrie&Trevor (The Suite Life of Zack and Cody) one shot, _**Math Just Got Exciting**_ to distract me for a little while. Check it out if you're into those two as well. It's extremely different to most of my other stuff, a lot _lighter._ I was trying to escape the angst, so yeah, I avoided going too in depth.

Anyway, hope you all enjoy the chapter!

* * *

She glanced over at the clock for what felt like the fiftieth time; forty-five minutes. She sighed. For the past forty-five minutes she had been sitting in her car, parked in the driveway, just staring out the window, looking towards the front door of her house. She knew he was home, she could see his shadow through the window as he sat in the living room, presumably reading the daily paper, but still, knowing that he was right there, she couldn't bring herself to get out of the car and confront him.

She knew what she was going to do, what she _had _to do, but it was still hard. He was the man she had been with for the last four years. The man who had once swept her off her feet, who had made her stomach queasy with butterflies and her heart swell with joy. But he was also the one who had broken her heart, smashed it into a thousand tiny pieces, and hadn't been able to repair it.

Once again she wondered when and why it had all gone wrong. They used to be happy; _so_ happy. And even though he had put her through so much, a wave of sadness still washed through her as she remembered what they had, and the fact that in a short while it would all be over. She never thought this day would actually come; that it would actually happen to her. She had always promised herself that what had happened to her parents wouldn't happen to her, and had even gone as far as to take Noah back when she found out he had cheated on her. But now she was realizing that things didn't always turn out as planned. Some things were just not meant to be, and Noah and herself were just one of those things.

She looked over at the window again; he was still sitting there. The clock was ticking and she knew she should just get out of the car and get it all over and done with, let the heartache finally be over. Shaking her head she forced out of her car and began to slowly walk to the front door. When she reached it she paused. Once she opened that door everything that had been apart of her life, of who she was, would be over. She took in a deep breath, mentally getting herself ready for what was in store for her, and then slowly put the key through the hole, turning it carefully before opening the door completely.

Walking through the hallway she saw him sitting on the chair by the window, reading the paper, just as she suspected he would be. She knew that he had heard her, but he didn't bother to greet her hello, or make a move to kiss her on the cheek like he usually would. She placed her bag by the door and took a seat on one of the other couches in the room. The pair sat in silence for a little while, Noah still not acknowledging her presence, and Gabriella thinking to herself, now realizing that she had no idea how she was going to do this; how she was going to actually end her marriage.

"Hi," she said quietly, finally breaking the deafening silence between them.

For the first time since she arrived her looked at her, glancing up from the paper, "Hey," he said briefly before going back to the paper again. She swallowed; this already wasn't an easy thing for her to do, and the way he was currently acting wasn't helping her at all. She watched him for a moment and it occurred to her that even though things were somewhat awkward between them, never before had he ever acted this way towards her. She wondered if maybe he knew it was the end too. As if it were something you could smell in the air coming a mile away.

Knowing that no amount of time could possibly make the situation easier, she took in a deep breath and closed her eyes, trying to sum up all of her courage to finally say it. "I decided that I would take up Maddie's offer to open the practice. I'm going back to Albuquerque," she said simply.

This caught his attention and he closed the paper and put it down. "So that's it, is it? You weren't going to discuss this with me? I was under the impression that something of this magnitude would be talked over with your husband before anything final was decided," he said in an even and steady tone and she recognized it as the voice he used when he was dealing with his clients. That voice that was so sure, so confident; almost a little too confident for her liking. It was as if he knew something that she didn't.

As the word 'husband' came out of his mouth a flicker of anger sparked within her, and she had to suppress the urge to let out a laugh. "Well given the circumstances I didn't think you deserved a say in the matter," she responded icily, feeling the sadness and uneasiness she had been feeling moments ago start to dissipate, being replaced by a slow burning anger.

He didn't respond immediately, but by the look on his face he seemed to know exactly what she was talking about. "I thought you might have known," he said slowly, his voice not hinting at any form of surprise or even regret.

The fact that he was so unaffected by her words began to agitate her. "Did you really think I wouldn't find out Noah? Taylor works in the same office as you for Pete's sake!" she let out angrily, hoping to spark a reaction out of him, but when no response came she continued. "Did you honestly think that you could get away with it again? That just because I took you back once, that I'd do it again?" she said heatedly. She could feel the blood pulsing through her veins and her heart pumping a mile a minute as the anger inside of her gradually began to grow stronger.

After they had gotten back together they hadn't talked about his infidelity, and she never confronted him on what she felt about it; it became one of those taboo topics, always danced around, but never mentioned. But now, with the finality of their marriage drawing near, Gabriella could feel herself begin to break as all of her pent up emotions started to flood to the surface.

He still hadn't answered her, which only served to irritate her even more. "Are you even going to _say_ anything?" she questioned him angrily, outraged that here she was ending their marriage and all he could do was sit there silently.

"What do you want me to say Gabriella?" he responded in a calm voice.

She got up from the couch and threw her arms up in the air. "Damn it Noah, just say something! Anything!"

A silence fell over them as she began to pace around the room. She stopped abruptly by the fireplace, picking up one of the many frames that adorned it, fingering it delicately. The picture she picked up had been one from the earlier months of their relationship; she remembered she had invited him along to one of the birthday parties of one of her friends. Their features in the picture were smaller, as they weren't the main attraction of the picture, but instead had been accidentally caught in the background, but you could still see it; how happy they looked. Her arms were wrapped around his neck and his around her waist as they danced slowly, each of them displaying content smiles of happiness across their faces. She sighed quietly and placed the picture back down, as memories of better times coming back once again.

He watched her intently, never once taking his eyes off her as she moved around the room.

"Why?" she said quietly. The anger in her voice was still apparent, but was now masked slightly by a questioning tone.

He didn't need to ask her what she was talking about. "I don't know."

She whirled around to face him. "We were happy Noah, and you screwed that up, and now you can't even tell me why?" she exclaimed.

"Gabriella, do you think I wanted this to happen to us!" he said as his voice rose for the first time. "I'm sorry okay!"

"No it's not okay!" she replied hotly. "Sorry isn't going to cut it anymore! I need to know why!"

"I don't know!" he persisted, throwing his hands up in the air, but remained seated. "It wasn't something that I planned, it just _happened._"

She glared at him. "Things like that just don't _happen_ Noah," she said bitterly. "For months I've been trying to figure it out; why the happiness we had wasn't enough for you," she paused for a moment, as her face softened and revealing her pain. "Why _I_ wasn't enough for you," she added in a lower voice, no longer sounding as angry as she was before, "but I still haven't been able to figure it out."

Standing up he made a move to go comfort her before realizing what he was doing and stopped short. "Gabi it wasn't you…" he said softly, "it was _never_ because of you."

"Then _why?"_ she said desperately, pleading with him, as her eyes begging him for an answer.

He turned away unable to handle the sight of her pain. He knew what he had done to her, and he hated himself everyday for it; it was the exact reason why he had done what he had last night.

Suddenly becoming aware that her eyes had become watery, she breathed in deeply, not allowing herself to let them fall. She glanced at his figure, his face still not looking at hers, and knowing that she wouldn't get an answer she tried a different approach. "How long?" she said simply.

"No. We didn't," he replied.

"Noah, don't do this, just tell me. How long?" she persisted restlessly.

He turned to her, looking her straight in the eye. "I wasn't lying to you when I said that she left, she did. And I wasn't sneaking around behind your back all these months either. That was the only time."

She searched his eyes for a sign that he could possibly be lying. "I'm not sure if I can believe you anymore," she responded truthfully. "If you weren't doing anything, then why was she with you last night?"

"Last night wasn't what you think it was," he said simply, deciding that she needed to know.

The anger crept back into her voice again. "Don't you dare," she warned. "Taylor saw you with her."

Noah let out a sigh knowing that what he was about to tell her next probably wouldn't go down very well. "We staged it."

"You _what?_" she said incredulously, as she took a few angry steps towards him. She could not believe what she was hearing. Had he really just told her the whole thing was an act? That he had done it on purpose? "You have some nerve, you know that?" she said, her voice was now dripping with not only anger, but distain too, as she glared towards him.

"Gabriella, did you honestly think I would be stupid enough to cheat on you at work, knowing full well that one of your best friends worked with me?" he questioned her.

"I don't know. Maybe it was one of those things that just 'happens,'" she shot back at him sarcastically.

"Gabriella, you don't love me anymore!" he exclaimed finally. "Did you really think I wouldn't notice it all? The way you'd stiffen whenever I touched you. Or how you'd always turn and give me your cheek when I kissed you hello?" he said raising his voice.

She didn't miss a beat. "Is that what you think Noah?" She didn't give him a chance to respond before she began again. "Do you really think I would still be here if I didn't love you? The _only _reason why I stayed this long was _because_ I still loved you!" she cried out angrily. "I tried, Noah, okay, I _really_ tried. I wasn't ready to give up on us. Everyone kept telling me to leave you, that I deserved more than you, and that I'd be better off, but I stayed with you _because_ I loved _you_. I still believed that you were the man I married and I wasn't about to throw it all away for one mistake."

He didn't respond, knowing that she still had so much more to say. He just stood back letting her release months of pent up emotions that he had caused.

"I thought that time would make me forget about it; give me a chance to forgive you for it. But every time you touched me, I would remember what you did, and every time you went on a business trip, I'd wonder if you were doing it again. I tried to fight it, God, I tried _so_ hard to convince myself that it was all in the past; that you wouldn't do it again, and that I could forgive you and move on, but I couldn't." Her eyes were filled with tears now, and yet she still wouldn't let them fall as she poured out all the feelings she had bottled up for the last few months.

She took in a few deep breaths. "Do you have any idea how much it hurt Noah?" she said quietly, her voice full of raw emotion. "To know that you had cheated on me in the first place, and then for me to live everyday after that wanting so desperately for things to go back to the way they were, but not being able to get past it. Do you know how that felt?" She paused.

"You broke my heart Noah."

He felt his throat close up, and his heart start to ache. He knew it was bad, but he had never realized just how bad it was. Breathing heavily he finally spoke up. "Don't you think I didn't know that? That I couldn't see your pain? I saw it everyday when you looked at me in the morning, and I _hated_ the fact that I was the reason that we became what we were," he whispered back to her softly. "That's why I had to do it. I realized the other night that we were a failed cause. I couldn't let you keep suffering over something that wasn't going to work."

He slowly reached out for her, but she pulled her arm back harshly. "And you had to hurt me even more to do that?"

"Gabriella I-" he began before she quickly cut him off.

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" she interrupted him, once again angry. "That because you were doing it for my 'benefit,' I should be grateful?" she said incredulously. "No, Noah, you could have told me and given me that choice."

He opened his mouth to say something, but shut it again, thinking better of it.

Wordlessly she unclasped the necklace that hung around her neck and let it land in her hand. She looked down at the ring she had been wearing for the past few years, gently fingering it one last time. "This is yours," she said emotionlessly as she thrust the ring and necklace into Noah's hand before storming up the stairs; not looking back once.

...

...

...

Hours later she walked down the stairs, her suitcase trailing at her heels. Stopping briefly to pick up her handbag, she reached for the door handle when Noah's hand grabbed her arm. "Gabriella, wait," his voice pleaded with her.

She stopped short, still very much angry with him over what he had revealed to her. Instead of yelling at him once more she just stood there staring at the door, letting him know that she would hear him out, but not bothering to look at him.

He let out a sigh of relief and gently released her arm. "Would you have really let go if I had talked to you about it?" he questioned carefully.

She thought about it for a moment; he was right, and she hated that he was. Despite how much it hurt, she would have still tried to hold onto the last pieces of thread that were holding her marriage together. But she didn't tell him this.

"I knew you wouldn't want to give up, but I needed to get you to realize that it was finally over between us. I couldn't keep hurting you anymore." Still she stayed quiet. "Gabriella, I'm sorry okay? I know you hate me for this now, but maybe in a few months you'll realize that I did you a favor."

She quickly turned to face him. "Oh really? Am I supposed to be thanking you for cheating on me now? For adding one more thing onto the list of ways that you've hurt me?" she said angrily, as her eyes shot a piercing look at him.

Noah wasn't deterred. "Gabi, you know just as well as I do, that we were over a long time ago," he said softly, not letting himself get angry with her.

"So what Noah!" she yelled. Throwing her arms up she walked over to the bottom of the staircase and whirled back around to face him. "There were other ways to tell me! You should have given me a choice!"

"Honestly, would you really have taken it?" he persisted.

"That's not the point!"

He sighed. "Look Gabriella, you have every right to be angry with me, and hurting you again wasn't my intention at all. I just needed you to see that what we had was no longer worth fighting for. I love you, but you can't trust me anymore, and you can't love me like you used to either. So it's time to move on," he said sincerely.

Looking directly into his eyes she could see that he had meant what he said. She felt the anger she had been experiencing begin to subside, now turning into sadness as it dawned on her that her marriage was finally over. It was finally the end.

"I'm letting you go Gabriella," he stated simply. "You deserve to be happy, really happy." He slowly walked up to her. "I hope you find someone that makes you feel that way."

Unintentionally her mind flickered to the thought of Troy and she blinked quickly when she realized the implications of that split second thought. She watched carefully as Noah approached her, not moving a muscle. She let him lean into her as he softly pressed his lips to her forehead. "Goodbye Gabriella," he said gently before quietly walking away.

She let out a deep breath that she hadn't known she had been holding, letting her shoulders slump downwards. She turned briefly in the direction of where he had gone. "Goodbye Noah," she whispered to herself softly before gathering up her things and walking out the door.

...

...

...

Sitting down in her car, she leaned the back of her head against her seat, closing her eyes. She breathed in deeply, her mind still processing all that had happened in the last few hours, and more specifically, the fact that Troy's face had popped into her mind. She knew it meant something and it made her feel a little uneasy given the circumstances.

She wondered if she had been unknowingly drifting further away from Noah and closer to Troy. To her knowledge she had never done anything that with Troy that would lead him to assume that she was anything more than a friend to him. But then again, they did have a different kind of friendship to any that she had ever had before. Maybe it was that special connection that they had, like Taylor had said.

Shaking her head, she pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind, and pulled out her cell phone, dialing a familiar number.

"Maddie! It's Gabi," she said in the most cheerful voice she could muster.

"Gabs!" Maddie responded enthusiastically, "How are you?"

"I'm…," she tapered off as she thought about it. It was obviously one of those questions that you instantly replied 'good' to without a second thought, but really, how did she feel right now? All the thoughts of what had happened were still so fresh in her mind that she hadn't been able to accurately pinpoint what she was currently feeling; so many things had happened in the last twenty-four hours. Realizing she had yet to answer Maddie she went on, "well, I'll explain it all to you when I get there." Before she could continue any further Maddie suddenly cut her off.

"Wait! Did you say 'get there?' As in here? Does that mean what I think it means…?" Gabriella could just hear the excitement building in her friend's voice and she couldn't help but smile widely.

"When you do need me there?" she questioned simply, smirking as she did so. She could just imagine Maddie jumping up and down with excitement.

Her thoughts couldn't have been very far off as all that could be heard from the other end of the line was the loud squealing of a very happy Maddie.

* * *

**Author's Note**: I love angry/angsty Gabriella. She's just so much fun to write, hehe.

And yes, Noah wasn't a complete ass, like most of you wanted him to be, but I just can't see Gabriella not clueing into the fact that the guy she was with for so long wasn't all that he seemed to be. When I was bouncing ideas off my friend, she laughed at me because I was so adamant about Noah not being a complete jerk; I'm sorry, but I just can't see it!

So bye bye Noah! From here on in, it's all Troy&Gabriella! Yay!

But it looks like our girl might be jetting off to Albuquerque after all…

As always, I love to hear your thoughts, so click that button and let me know!


	7. Chapter VII

**Disclaimer:** You know I keep hoping every night that I'll wake up and have mysteriously inherited all that is High School Musical... but no, it still hasn't happened.

**Author's Note**: First off, I'm so, so, _**so**_ sorry for not updating! Hell, it's been so long I don't blame you if you don't remember what was happening, and have to go back and reread it all._**  
**_

Secondly, over 100 reviews? _Wow. _Never did I think that I would get that many reviews! So thank you all for taking the time to review; it means a lot and they really do help me in the writing process.

* * *

"So I've talked to Noah, and he's fine with giving you anything you want; the house, the money, whatever you want," Taylor voice came through the phone. "Now, after what he did to you, I think you should take him for everything he's worth," she said simply as the two went over the specifics of Noah and Gabriella's divorce.

"Taylor!" Gabriella exclaimed as she proceeded to pack away all her belongings into cardboard boxes that where set up around her office.

"What? It's reasonable! Given the circumstances, if this case went to court you'd be getting the bulk of his earnings anyway!"

"Tay, sorry, it's not happening. I'm not doing that to him, even if he says its fine," she responded calmly.

"You know, you're seriously taking all my fun away," she said grumpily, and Gabriella could almost hear the pout in her voice. "First you say I can't slap him, which in all seriousness took so much effort not to do. And then you won't even let me get the best out of this settlement for you? As your lawyer, I've got to tell you it's not a very smart move."

"But as my friend, you're going to respect my wishes," she countered back quickly. "Please, Tay?"

Taylor sighed. "Fine," she muttered, clearly not happy with it. "What do you propose then?"

Gabriella shuffled around her office for a moment before she responded. "Um… everything we brought into it we get back, and I don't know, fifty-fifty for everything else? He can have the house, I'm leaving anyway, I won't need it," she suggested.

"Jesus Gabriella, anyone might believe that _you_ were the guilty party in all of this!" she exclaimed in disbelief.

"Well I'm sorry Tay, but it's not like I ever planned to get divorced, how am I supposed to know what's appropriate!" Gabriella snapped, almost yelling. Realizing she shouldn't have done that she sighed. "I'm sorry, I just want this whole thing over and done with. I don't want to fight about anything with him anymore, and I don't want to have to think about it. So the simpler this whole thing is, the sooner I can try to move past this," she said desperately, pleading.

Taylor gave an audible sigh. "Okay, but Noah doesn't want the house. He taking a job on the other side of town and wants to move closer to the new building," she said simply.

Gabriella shook her head distractedly, as she moved onto another section of her office. She was slightly curious about his job offer, he had never mentioned it, but she didn't want to ask Taylor about it either. "Whatever, sell it then."

"I'll get it all organized then. Seventy-thirty split?" she answered sneakily, knowing Gabriella wasn't concentrating solely on the conversation.

She perked up. "What? Tay, no!"

"Gabi, listen to me, if you were any other client I would be suggesting the exact same thing! Hell, I'd be fighting for them to take more than just fifty-fifty! It's insane Gabi! Let me get you seventy percent of the value of the house, and then you can have fifty-fifty of whatever you and Noah both made over the last few years, and that'll be it, I promise," she proposed.

Just wanting it all over, Gabriella relented. "Fine, but that is all, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I promise," she replied dismissively. "I'm sure Noah will be fine with everything, and if not I'll just remind him of a few things, but it should be okay. Now, just a few other things we need to discuss," she went on, but Gabriella was no longer listening.

Throughout the phone call she'd be quickly packing away her office into large cardboard boxes, not entirely registering what she was doing, that was until she realized she'd have to pack away the numerous photographs of Noah and herself away. Slowing down her movements she gently removed the closest picture off the wall, sadly fingering the picture through the glass protection. She sighed, before carefully placing it down in the box, and slowly moving around her office looking at each picture that adorned it intently.

She tried to remember back to the moment that each picture was taken, and to feel the emotions that she had been feeling at the time. Each picture depicted an almost glowing replica of herself; so happy and carefree. And yet, looking at the pictures now she could no longer feel the happiness she once felt when she saw them. All she could feel was an overwhelming sadness. It were as if her heart refused to acknowledge how happy they once were, because it knew of the heartache that had come from that happiness. In her mind she knew that she had been happy. That they had been really happy, but she could no longer feel it. It were as if the pictures had been tainted now, somehow.

Closing her eyes she breathed in deeply. She wanted to feel that happiness. She didn't want to feel like she had just wasted the last four years of her life; she wanted to be able to look back on that time and be able to feel at ease with everything that had happened, and to be able to appreciate what they once had, but not to dwell on it. Her mind wondered if that time would ever come, and how long it would take to occur.

She sighed once again before Taylor's voice jolted her back to reality. "Gabi? Gabriella!"

"Sorry, I'm here. Just spaced out a little," she said shaking her to rid her mind of its previous thoughts. It had been the first time since she last saw Noah, a week or so ago, that she had let herself think about it, at least on some emotional level. Since then she had opted to keep things nice and easy. It was too hard to think about it all; too soon. She could think about it all she wanted once she was in Albuquerque.

"You sure you're okay?" Taylor asked worriedly.

Gabriella smiled softly at her concern. "Yeah, I'm good," she responded as she moved onto packing up some of her other things. She could always pack the photos later. "I'm just packing my stuff up, and I came across the pictures, but its okay," she said dismissively.

"Gabi," Taylor said sympathetically, "you haven't talked about it since that day, and I'm worried about you. It's okay to be upset and to cry over it you know?"

"I know Tay," she said softly. "And when I'm ready to do the all the crying, I know you're there, but I can't right now."

Knowing not to push the matter any further Taylor relented. "Okay," she paused, "but you know what topic comes after that one, right?"

Despite herself, Gabriella could help but give a light laugh. "I think I've worked it out by now."

"Have you talked to him yet?" Taylor went on.

"No, I haven't had a chance to yet," she replied. "The last couple of days have been insane; I've been running around from meeting to meeting that I haven't even had a chance to think, let alone meet him for lunch to actually tell him."

Taylor let out a huff. "Gabi! Do you want him to be the last one to know? You can't leave it 'til the last minute," she berated.

"I know, I know," she said tiredly. "I just don't know what to say to him. It's going to be so awkward; I haven't seen him since I ran out on him," she explained.

"It won't be that awkward. Things with you and Troy are never awkward. Anyway, he'll understand."

She sighed. "God I hope so. I hope that kiss didn't majorly screw things up otherwise-" she said cutting herself off, as she looked up and saw Troy coming towards her office. "Crap! Taylor he's coming! What do I do?!"

"First, calm down. Breathe in… and out." Gabriella complied. "Okay now, you just act naturally. It'll only be more awkward if you make a big deal out of it."

Gabriella nodded into the phone as Troy walked into her office, heading straight for the candy jar, just like usual. She let out a breath of relief. "Right, okay, got it."

"He's in there now, isn't he?"

"Yep."

"I'll let you go then. Just remember to act naturally, and everything will go fine," she sighed longingly. "I'm going to miss Troy interrupting our phone calls all the time." Gabriella simply gave a small laugh. "Oh and don't forget to tell him!" she yelled into the phone urgently.

"Okay, bye Taylor!" she said quickly as she hung up the phone. Turning towards Troy, she took in a deep breath, and smiled as she watched him leaning against the wall next to the candy jar.

"So the rumors are true, then?" he said simply, taking a bite out of a green gummi bear.

"And what rumors would that be?" she questioned, as she turned her back to him and continued to pack, trying her hardest not to make the situation awkward.

"That Dr Montez is fleeing the state in a hurry," he responded simply, watching her. "There are literally nurses all over the building crying over your departure in the hallways! I think I even overheard one girl sobbing about how it was so unexpected. You'd think someone would have died," he exclaimed. "I never knew you were so popular," he teased.

She smirked, silently grateful to Troy for trying to lighten up the situation. "Ha. Hardly. I'm pretty sure they were jumping at the chance to get rid of me. Stevens didn't at all seem bothered that I hadn't given him two weeks notice."

"Well, I'm guessing that that's because you mentioned Maddie," he said as he moved a few boxes out of the way so he could take a seat on the couch. "Didn't you tell me Stevens had a thing for his beloved Dr Madeline Richards?" She nodded. "It's simple then. He keeps you happy, and you mention this to Maddie, and he has an in. It's in the Guy Rule Book, rule #103," he said with a straight face.

She laughed. "It's not happening. She always hated him when she worked here. But hey, if it's working in my favor, I will not complain." He simply laughed along with her. No longer able to pretend nothing had happened she stopped laughing. "Troy, listen, I'm sorry-" she began, before she even knew what she was going to say, but he cut her off.

"No need Montez. You've had a lot of stuff going on lately, I understand. It's cool," he said easily, waving her off.

She looked at him skeptically, she wasn't even sure what she was apologizing over, so it confused her slightly what he was referring to. Was it the kiss, or her running out on him, or was it that she hadn't been the one to tell him that she was leaving. "Are you sure?"

He chuckled. "Gabs, quit worrying about me! It's okay. I should be the one worried about you."

She smiled appreciatively, wondering how he could so easily hide his feelings for her, before turning back to her packing. "Yeah, I'm okay," she muttered dismissively, not wanting to get into it as she noticed a few books on the top shelf. Standing on her toes she tried in vain to reach them, but soon gave up and moved her chair closer to the shelf so she could retrieve them.

Sensing her reluctance, he let the question slide. "Whoa, whoa. Hold up there Montez. I don't want to have to be treating you next for back injury. Let me get those for you."

She rolled her eyes, but said thanks, anyway. She watched him as he effortlessly reached for her books, and packed them away for her, until a nurse rushed in.

"I'm so sorry for interrupting Gabi," she said, out of breath, apologizing profusely. "But Reynolds was wondering if he could move your four o'clock to lunch."

Gabriella groaned. "This is what I get for leaving with only five days warning. Yeah, tell him I'll be there in fifteen." She sighed, as the nurse ran out quickly.

"There goes lunch, I guess," Troy said behind her, with a tint of disappointment in his voice.

She turned to him apologetically. "I'm really sorry. I know we haven't had a chance to talk much lately and all."

He smiled, masking his disappointment, "Gabi, it's fine, really. Dinner, maybe?"

She scrunched up her nose. "Sorry, can't. I've got meetings all afternoon, I still have to pack up this place, and then do a million and one other things to do before I leave."

He nodded understandingly. "When do you leave, anyway?"

"Tomorrow morning, actually," she said as she moved around her desk to gather some files.

"I'll drive you to the airport, and we can talk then," he suggested hopefully.

She sighed. "Troy, you and I both know you always have heaps of patients on Saturday mornings. I don't want you to have to reschedule all of those now." As she spoke the words, she tried to convince herself that she wasn't just trying to avoid spending time with him, but both of them knew very well what she was doing.

She stood in the middle of her office and looked up at him. "I guess this is it then."

He laughed, trying to wave off some of the awkwardness that had been lingering in the room. "Jeez, Gabi, you make it sound like I'm never going to see or call you again. You will be living in Albuquerque, and I'll have to come home and see my parents every now and then."

She smiled, and then leaned forward to hug him, gripping him tightly. She was going to miss him. Sure there was still the phone and email, but it would be different. There would be no more daily lunches, and squabbling over failed dates. No more complaints over near empty candy jars, or trading patient stories. She sighed, yeah, she was definitely going to miss this, but she knew that this was for the better.

She couldn't stay here any longer; not when things were so hazy between Troy and herself, and she was still recovering from everything with Noah. She couldn't risk it. She'd hate herself if she unknowingly fell on the rebound with Troy; he deserved much more than that. And knowing that that could very well happen, she didn't want to risk it. She couldn't do that to Troy. Or to Noah either. As much pain as Noah had caused her, she would by lying if she denied still loving him. The pair had been together for years, and the feelings that came along with that just didn't disappear overnight. True he had hurt her, but she couldn't simply move from Noah onto Troy straight away, as if Noah meant nothing to her. Even if looking at the pictures only stirred feelings of sadness within her, she knew she wouldn't be able to do that.

Part of her knew that in leaving she might also be hurting Troy, but if the other option was staying, and still accidentally hurting Troy by falling on the rebound, then she felt that leaving him now was the better of the two options. She couldn't trust herself completely around him, not right now when she was such a mess and he had the habit of saying and doing all the right things. He loved her and she couldn't abuse that love just to feel comforted. Kissing him had already proved to be such a disastrous act, and she didn't want to stick around any longer to make their relationship any worse.

"Gabi?" Troy questioned, softly, but his voice laced with seriousness. Inwardly she froze, hoping he wouldn't mention what she was hoping to forget.

"Mm?"

"I was wondering," he tapered off. This was it, he was going to bring up the kiss, she was sure of it. Sure he had dismissed it earlier, but maybe he wanted to bring it up now, seeing as she was leaving. "I was wondering if maybe, I could have you candy jar?" he finished cheekily.

She let out a small breath of relief as a small laugh emitted from her mouth. "God, Bolton, you made it sound so serious," she joked, hitting him on the shoulder as she pulled out of the hug. "But yeah, sure, knock yourself out."

Troy let out a cheer of triumph. "Awesome, thanks!" he grinned. "I'll even pack up the rest of your stuff for you, in return," he said, as he begun to move around the room, packing more books into boxes.

She smirked. "You don't have to, but since you offered, thanks!"

Picking up the last of her things she walked out the door, only to come back moments later. "Hey Troy?" He looked up. "Thanks," she said softly. "Not just for packing for me, but for everything else," she smiled fondly. "It… you, you were just a great help."

He grinned back at her, one of his classic grins. "Like I said, anytime, Montez," he winked, playfully. "Now, go!" he said shooing her out of her office.

...

--

...

_They were lying on her bed, her head resting on his chest, his arms wrapped around her waist, and their legs tangled up together, just talking, as they had been for the last three hours. Feeling his laughter vibrate through his body, she couldn't help but smile._

_Suddenly his laughter died down. "I love you," he said simply. Gone was the lightness that his voice had held moments ago, instead now sounding soft and gentle, yet laced with seriousness. It were as if he needed her to know that he meant it._

_She looked up from his chest and to his face, scanning his eyes; they lacked the shine and the life that they usually held, somehow not looking as blue as they had before. They looked sad. Her smile faltered, and instantly she knew. It was too hard, the distance was becoming too much, and they were both suffering under the strain of not being able to see, touch, and kiss each other everyday._

_They both knew what was about to happen._

_They'd promised each other that they wouldn't just choose their colleges based on where the other wanted to go, and that if they needed to, they would have a long distance relationship. Every few weeks they would alternate between who would travel to spend the weekend with the other. They would spend the entire weekend caught up in each other, and only the other, completely blocking out the rest of the world. But between visits there would be constant phone calls. She'd call him every morning just to make sure she was the first to greet him 'good morning' and to ensure that he went to class, he'd call her in between classes and talk to her about nothing in particular, just so that he could hear her voice, and they would talk for hours into the night._

_But her assignments had been pilling up, and his training sessions seemed to drag on for hours, so the phone calls had began to dwindle, and the visits became more sparse. It wasn't that they had been drifting apart, but time pressures had been forcing them apart. So when Troy found out his basketball game had been cancelled, he called her and took the first flight over to spend a much needed and wanted weekend with her.  
_

_In the back of their minds they both knew that this would most likely be their last weekend together, so they made the most of it, but with Troy's flight only a couple of hours away, they knew they couldn't put it off any longer._

_Still gazing into his eyes, she wordlessly reached her hand up to stroke the side of his face, her eyes already beginning to water. Slowly she brought her lips to his, and in one lingering kiss she tried to show him how much she loved him and how much she didn't want to do this, even though both knew they didn't really have a choice._

_The tears had already begun to fall by the time the kiss ended, but she didn't make a move to wipe them away. "I love you too," she whispered back softly before breaking their gaze and tightening her grip around him._

_Gently, he guided her face back to his, brushing away the tears in the process, and forced her to look back up at him; the sadness that was etched on her face, reflecting his own. "Gabi…," he trailed off in a pained voice, not being able to voice the exact words to end it all; not wanting to say the words to end it._

_She breathed deeply, trying to prevent another wave of tears. "I know, it's just…"_

_"Knowing doesn't make it any easier, does it?" he finished for her softly. Even though he was the one who had initiated the conversation, it didn't by no means meant that he wanted it anymore than she did._

_She shook her head slightly, still unsuccessfully trying to control her tears._

_He wiped away a stray tear as it begun to fall. "I don't want us to wake up one day only to realize we have nothing left, or worse, for us to end up hating each other," he said tentatively, pausing for a moment. "I don't want to hurt you Gabi. You mean too much to me," he added softly._

_Closing her eyes she remained quiet for a moment before she begun. "I know, I don't want that either. I'd much rather have some part of you, than none at all. But it's just so hard."_

_"Hey, hey," he said as he grasped her hands together, kissing the backs of them both lightly. "You'll always have some part of me, okay? This doesn't mean we're done forever. I'm still going to be there for you anytime you want. Don't ever think for a moment that I won't be."_

_She smiled at him weakly as more tears fell. "God I love you, and you aren't making this any easier by saying things like that." She took in a deep breath, "but I know we have to do this."_

_"Come here," he said simply, pulling her into a tight hug. She wrapped her arms around him and leaned into his shoulder, breathing in his scent as she let her tears fall freely._

_They remained in that position until Troy's phone beeped alerting him that his cab would be here soon. Untangling themselves, they wordlessly moved to the door where his bags were. They stood hesitantly for a moment before Troy engulfed her in another hug; breathing in her scent. He was going to miss this; holding her in his arms, sure he'd still be here friend, but it wouldn't feel the same. He tightened his grip on her, not wanting to let go just yet._

_"Can you just do me one favor?" he questioned. Feeling her nod against his shoulder he continued, "After you get back from your first date, and I call to ask you how it went. Tell me it sucked, okay?"_

_She laughed despite her tears and pulled back from the hug slightly. She looked him in the eye, smiling genuinely at him, her eyes still wet from the tears. "Only if you do the same," she replied._

_"It's a done deal Montez," he responded, grinning back down at her._

_His phone beeped again and he checked it, sighing. "I guess this is it," she said sadly._

_"Guess so," he said sadly before looking back towards her, he held the side of her face in his palm. "Now you dry those tears, call Maddie and Taylor, rent some sappy chick flicks and eat two tubs of ice cream for me," he said with a light tone, and grinned when she hit him across the arm with a smile. "What? I'm not worth two tubs?" he teased._

_She didn't miss a beat. "No, you're worth three, but one will have to do," she said grinning back at him._

_They shared another smile before he leaned down to her forehead placing a soft kiss against it. Pulling out of her grasp completely, he picked up his bags and opened the door. He turned back to her as he walked out. "I'll call you when I get back," he said, answering her unasked question, then turned down the hallway._

_..._

_..._

_..._

Looking around her office that was now empty besides a few boxes that had been stacked neatly in the corner, Troy sighed.This was it. She was leaving. He was sad that she was leaving, but he knew that it was something she had to do, so he wouldn't let himself feel too sad that it was happening. It was what was best for her. At the end of the day, for him, it had always been what was best for her.

Yet, despite knowing that, and knowing that she wasn't ready for anything. He didn't want to let go. He didn't want their friendship to dwindle down to nothing like it had before; she meant too much to him now to let go of her again, and he knew that one day his chances would be up, and there wouldn't be a possibility of a Troy and Gabriella, ever again.

So with that in mind, he picked up the phone and dialed a familiar number. "Taylor! It's Troy," he said quickly.

"Hey! What's up?" she questioned.

Not having time for any small talk, he jumped straight into it. "What time does her flight leave tomorrow?"

On the other end of the line, Taylor grinned. There was still hope for them after all.

* * *

**A****uthor's Note**: After months of waiting, I know this chapter probably seems like a disappointment. But the way I see it, Gabriella seems to me like the type to take action, then to think and get all emotional later. And given that so much as happened to her lately, I can see why she'd want to lock away all her emotions for the time being. But not to worry, it'll come later.

I've got to say again how sorry I am for the long wait! After the last chapter life just caught up with me, and it was one thing after the other, and then once that was done I couldn't get back into the rhythm of writing, and I everything I wrote didn't seem right, so hopefully this chapter doesn't totally suck, even though I think it might. I really hope the next chapter doesn't take another few months to get up too. LOL.

Also, I'm not sure of how many of you actually remember this, but I said in the first chapter that this wouldn't be a very long story, five chapters tops, but somehow I went over that. So I'm just going to remind you that the story will be drawing to its end soon, unfortunately, in a few chapters or so.

As always, your thoughts on the chapter are loved! Constructive criticism will be accepted with many thanks, as long as it's written somewhat nicely. LOL. I'll even let you yell at me for making you all wait months for an update. So click that little button!


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